ESA at IAC 2025 – highlights from Day 2

During Monday’s opening ceremony, Australia’s Governor-General, Sam Mostyn, lauded Australia’s growing partnership with Europe, while the Australian government indicated its mandate to begin negotiations for a Cooperative Agreement with ESA. Australian Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science Tim Ayres said that such an agreement would “create new opportunities for Australian ideas and technologies, improving Australia’s industrial capability, boosting productivity, and building economic resilience”. 

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said: “We are now opening a new chapter—one that will see us engage in discussions with Australia alongside ESA Member States to define the best path forward.”

On Tuesday, ESA and ASA representatives met for more than an hour reviewing the status of the current cooperation and preparing for the next steps.

Europe and Australia share a long history in space activities, arising from the use of the Woomera test range for rockets by the European Launcher Development Organisation, one of ESA’s precursor organisations. Australia has been a vital location for mission tracking and communications since the start of the space age: ESA’s first European space tracking (Estrack) station in Australia was founded at the Carnarvon complex in 1979, supporting the success of the Giotto mission to Comet Halley in 1986. The station moved to the Perth International Telecommunications Centre in 1987 before changing to its current home in New Norcia in 2015.

On Tuesday, ESA also marked its partnership with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA. With BepiColombo and EarthCARE currently in flight, JAXA has indicated its interest in supporting the upcoming Ramses asteroid mission. Ramses is designed to rendezvous with the asteroid Apophis, which will pass closer to Earth than the orbits of some satellites in April 2029. The mission will help support future planetary defence missions for asteroids that pose a collision risk. In addition, the JAXA-led DESTINY+ explorer mission will launch alongside Ramses and perform a fast flyby of Apophis before the arrival of Ramses, helping with the latter’s navigation to the asteroid. 

Following the meeting with JAXA representatives including President Hiroshi Yamakawa, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said: “JAXA remains one of ESA’s most important long-term strategic partners. As my friend and the President of JAXA Dr. Yamakawa put it: international collaboration is not possible without win-win solutions. And with JAXA, it’s always a win-win.”