At this year’s International Astronautical Congress (IAC), The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and France will sign a new framework agreement that will serve as a prime example of space cooperation between nations.
Signed by Marc Serres, CEO of the Luxembourg Space Agency, and Philippe Baptiste, President General Director of the CNES, the memorandum will be a renewal to an agreement originally signed in 2009. This reaffirms the goal of developing concrete bilateral projects between the two countries’ space agencies, including training initiatives for students and researchers, communication activities towards lay audiences, and joint organization of seminars, workshops, and symposiums.
Also on the table will be collaborative efforts in the field of space exploration, space resource utilization, and the development of policies in line with international space law. This collaboration will extend to both national research institutes and private sector space companies.
Luxembourg’s Minister of the Economy, Franz Fayot declared: “Since the signing of a first framework agreement in 2009, France and Luxembourg have been able to share expertise and conduct several workshops together. In the meantime, we have successfully launched the SpaceResources.lu initiative, the Luxembourg Space Agency and more recently the European Space Resources Innovation Center (ESRIC), which is why the establishment of a new framework agreement made sense. As a major player in space Europe, France has unparalleled know-how with CNES, which is why I am delighted with this agreement which will make it possible to strengthen cooperation between private and public entities of our two countries, with a particular focus on activities related to space resources.”
