Space Tech Expo Europe Show Daily | Woerner: ESA not mayor of Moon Village; Airbus gung-ho on Deep Space Gateway; German startups struggle for liftoff

Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017 View this email in your browser Woerner: Cooperation should reign as spacefaring nations clean up Earth orbit and venture beyond ISS BREMEN, Germany — European Space Agency Director-General Jan Woerner on Oct. 24 said cooperation should trump competition as the world's spacefaring nations set out to clean up Earth's orbit while establishing an international human presence at the moon and beyond. Speaking at Space Tech Expo Europe here, Woerner expanded on his idea of a "united space in Europe" — a vision he says must for now replace the dream of a "united states of Europe" shared after the launch of Europe's Sentinel-2B Earth-observation satellite March. As the world's leading space agencies began to plot their next steps now that the International Space Station wraps up its sixth year of post-assembly operations, Woerner said more global space endeavors should be opened to India and China, among others. — Tereza Pultarova 24-26 October, Bremen, Germany      Registration Exhibition Hall Industry Forum Technology Forum Tues 24 Oct 07:30 - 18:00 08:45 - 18:00 09:15 - 16:45 11:25 - 17:00 Weds 25 Oct 08:00 - 17:00 08:45 - 17:00 09:05 - 16:30 09:25 - 17:00 Thurs 26 Oct 08:00 - 15:00 08:45 - 15:00 09:00 - 15:00 09:25 - 13:50 Franco-German relationships key for strong Europe in space The relationships between France and Germany are key for the success of Europe in the increasingly competitive global space sector, Jean Pascal Le Franc, the French space agency CNES's director of programming, international and quality, said Oct. 24. According to Le Franc, the two countries, which have been cooperating on space projects for the past 40 years and together provide 50 percent of the ESA budget, have the responsibility to ensure that Europe remains a leading space player amid the arrival of new countries as well as commercial space entities. With ESA being a separate entity from the European Union, the two European powers have to ensure that space policies of the two institutions align. —Tereza Pultarova Q&A | Airbus' Oliver Juckenhöfel gung-ho on Deep Space Gateway As the head of the Airbus space site in Bremen, Germany, Oliver Juckenhöfel leads a workforce of 1,000 people responsible for the bulk of the European aerospace giant's human spaceflight and upper stage work. Juckenhöfel's team is busy finishing assembly of the Orion Service Module, the primary power and propulsion element of NASA's deep space exploration capsule currently slated to perform its first lunar roundtrip — without crew onboard — sometime in 2019. As that work wraps up, Juckenhöfel and his team have already started work on its successor, which will return humans to lunar orbit. Juckenhöfel, who joined Airbus in 2008 and took over the Bremen site last November, said he's excited about the Deep Space Gateway, NASA's concept for a permanent space station in lunar orbit. Airbus, as Juckenhöfel sees it, would be an indispensable contributor to the Deep Space Gateway, assuming it moves from concept to a bona fide program with European Space Agency involvement. Juckenhöfel spoke with SpaceNews ahead of Space Tech Expo Europe in Bremen Oct. 24-26. — Tereza Pultarova Germany wants more space startups but entrepreneurs struggle for liftoff Germany might be Europe's best-performing economy and an undisputed engineering powerhouse. But when it comes to space startups, something is amiss. Germany is traditionally the largest contributor the European Space Agency's budget and the country's aerospace heavyweights — namely Airbus and OHB — are the backbone of large-scale European space projects. And yet space entrepreneurs find it difficult for their companies to take off in Germany. DLR board member Gerd Gruppe, speaking to SpaceNews ahead of Space Tech Expo Europe in Bremen, Germany, Oct. 24-26, said the German space agency would like to see more Germans launching space startups but the appetite is not there. — Tereza Pultarova Complex designs can slash the weight of spacecraft parts, but may carry hidden costs By combining additive manufacturing with advanced processing power, companies now can print the optimal design for many spacecraft parts. No longer angular or boxy, the new parts "look sexy for the first time," said Franck Mouriaux, RUAG Schweiz AG aerospace structures general manager said last week at the Additive Aerospace conference in Los Angeles. Engineers are learning, though, that the hardest part of this process known as topology optimization is figuring out exactly what features make a part optimal. RUAG, for example, uses topology optimization to reduce the mass of spacecraft parts, which means customers can allot additional mass to commercial payloads. Mouriaux warned, however, that the complex designs may carry hidden costs. — Debra Werner We welcome comments, tips, feedback. Email tpultarova@spacenews.com  Copyright © 2017 SpaceNews Inc., All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: SpaceNews Inc. 1414 Prince St, Suite 204 Alexandria, VA 22314