ESA at Le Bourget 2025 - Day One Highlights
The European Space Agency has begun the 55th International Paris Air Show by unveiling the first images from the Proba-3 spacecraft.
The Paris Space Hub was officially inaugurated by the Prime Minister of France, François Bayrou, to start seven days of industry and public activities.
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and CNES Executive Vice President Lionel Suchet held a joint press conference, during which they discussed the evolving geopolitical landscape and their highlights for the week ahead. Watch a video replay of the press conference or read the transcript.
ESA's Proba-3 mission has unveiled its first images of the solar corona – the Sun’s outer atmosphere. The mission's two satellites are flown in close formation to create an 'artificial solar eclipse'. Read how the images can help improve our understanding of the Sun.
Philip Thomas, Head of ESA's ScaleUp Division discussed the opportunities for international collaboration, as well as some of the barriers entrepreneurs have discovered, during the panel Launchpad to the World: Scaling European Space Innovation. The panel featured Nicolette Yeo, Director of Innovation, Singapore Space and Technology Ltd, Gregory Pradels, Advisor to the Director of Strategy, CNES, Kévin Rutankabandi, Space Program Manager, Wheere, Eliza Drazniece, Head of Representative Office in France, Investment and development agency of Latvia, and Hidetaka Aoki, Co-Founder and Director, Space Port Japan, Co-Founder, SPACETIDE Foundation.
Finally, ESA and Leonardo announced they are embarking on a joint project to explore smart antennas powered by Machine Learning to block unwanted signals that can interfere with satellite navigation. The project covers identification of a smarter algorithm for signal blocking, building and testing a real-time receiver demonstrator based on the selected algorithm, and comparing it to conventional larger antennas. See the press release for more details.
