ESA at IAC 2026 – Day 2

The second day of ESA’s participation in the 77th International Astronautical Congress in Antalya, Türkiye, centered on international cooperation, with ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher meeting partners from around the world. ESA said the exchanges reflected its commitment to strengthening existing partnerships while broadening cooperation with established and emerging space actors.

Key engagements included a bilateral meeting with NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson, where Aschbacher received a commemorative plaque containing Zinnia elegans and Capsicum annuum seeds flown around the Moon aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission. ESA and ISRO leadership teams also met; Aschbacher said that after extending their cooperation agreement a couple weeks earlier, the agencies took first steps to discuss expanded cooperation spanning human spaceflight, lunar exploration, climate and science missions, turning a long-standing partnership into concrete future opportunities. ESA’s delegation also held a bilateral meeting with representatives of the United Arab Emirates space sector, including UAE Space Agency Director General Salem Al Qubaisi. At the end of the first day, meetings were held with Acting President of the Canadian Space Agency Jean-Claude Piedboeuf and Enrico Palermo, Head of the Australian Space Agency.

In parallel, the ESA booth hosted discussions on key issues shaping space’s future, including a panel on Large Constellations in LEO: Balancing Market Growth, Legal Governance and the Sustainable Use of Orbit. It was moderated by Gisela Süss, Head of ESA’s Legal Department, and Charlotte Mathieu, Head of ESA’s Space Economy and Industrial Policy Division, and brought together representatives from the UK Space Agency, the German Space Agency at DLR, the Portuguese Space Agency and Novaspace. ESA also pointed to a photo gallery for more of its IAC 2026 exhibition.