How can we be not excited about the future when for the first time in history, we can truly reach for the stars. As new startups and young professionals are joining the space industry with creative and ambitious ideas, we are getting closer to the great age of space explorations.
Space Terminal – Online Summit powered by Design Terminal was held on the 10th and 11th of November in the framework of the X-Europe project’s space tech cohort. The conference aimed to inspire participants and show them that the space industry is not science-fiction and space inventions, and technologies could be used in our everyday lives.
The event would have wanted to strengthen a community of successful space-related startups all over Europe. It provided an interactive platform for startups, founders, corporations, investors, ecosystem builders, and other experts of the space industry to share knowledge and build a network.
Among the speakers, there were co-founder & CEO of Space DOTS, director BD of Carbice and space engineer Bianca Cefalo, Igor Bobek, producer at MarsTalk, The Mars Society, Alastair Reynolds, sci-fi author, and analog astronaut Eleni Charitonos.
The invited speakers talked about planet-spinning innovations, space tech in our everyday lives, space-based technologies here on Earth, risky and tolerance-needed space entrepreneurship, and the role of women in space, female engineers, etc.
The audience could hear such futuristic thoughts that flying cars are the future because they provide a better and more efficient way of commuting in cities. Edgar Rodrigues, program manager of EVE Air Mobility believes that this type of traveling will disrupt the transportation industry by bringing affordable air transportation to all passengers and improving quality of life.
As Fiametta Diani, head of marketing development at the EU Agency for the Space Programme put it: in Europe, the downstream of the space industry makes up 27% of the worldwide market share.
Space is super sexy! Says Ricardo Marvao - co-founder of Beta-i. He told us that even people who don’t have an engineering background can enter the space industry, especially on the downstream side, and space technology can be used in any field. He also summarized the main reason why this conference and dealing with the space industry is so beneficial. “We haven’t even scratched the surface. In the next decade, there is going to be an exponential growth of companies entering the space market. We have seen a lot more in the USA, and we are starting to catch up in Europe, but this is just the beginning. If anyone should look for new opportunities in the next decade, it should be the space industry.”
As this event was part of the space cohort of the X-Europe program, we could also hear 4 participating startups speak about the topic: Space4Good, Aistech Space, Mavuno Technologies, and Fossa Systems. For them, Linda Van Duivenbode, board member at Groundstation Space / dotSPACE had very good news: “Entering the market is relatively easy, and there are a lot of support systems. But having the right team and being able to provide profitable value in the long term is where the real challenges are.”
There was a pitch battle with the following startups from the X-Europe program: Celestial Space Technologies, Plus Ultra Space Outposts, Phase Growth, Precision Navigation Systems, Sfera Technologies, and last but not least the winner of the battle: Neutron Star System. Each startup was given 3 minutes for their pitch where they could present their ideas and company. The reward was visibility and a meetup with the jury.
All in all, the conference was both educational and inspiring. There is no way to know how far we can go in space or who will take the first steps on Mars, but the solution lies in the hands of the coming generations. Stay curious and optimistic.
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