Italy in space
ESA at IAC 2026: space that serves society and a strong European partner
Serves society: For two consecutive days the European Space Agency has been center stage at the 77th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2026).
In brief
In the first two days of IAC 2026 in Antalya, ESA wove new international cooperation (NASA, India, the Emirates, Canada, Australia) together with the building of European autonomy ahead of the end of the ISS. The signing with Vast and the decisions expected in Rome in December, including a possible European vehicle for astronauts, mark the path forward.
Key points
- The 77th IAC is being held in Antalya from October 5 to 9, 2026, for the first time in Turkey, with the theme 'The World Needs More Space'.
- According to the OECD, space systems support more than half of the 16 critical infrastructures of member countries.
- ESA has signed a memorandum with Vast to prepare for the post-ISS period and maintain European access to microgravity.
- The Intermediate Ministerial Meeting in Rome in December will decide on European autonomous capabilities, including astronaut transport.
- The renewal of the ESA-ISRO agreement opens up cooperation on human spaceflight, the Moon, climate and science.
- A plaque with seeds of Zinnia elegans and Capsicum annuum that flew on Artemis II sealed the bilateral with NASA.
The strong partner at a world congress putting space at the service of society
For two consecutive days the European Space Agency has been center stage at the 77th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2026), underway in Antalya, Turkey. The congress is organized by the International Astronautical Federation and hosted by the Turkish Space Agency together with the aerospace cluster SAHA İstanbul. It is being held in Turkey for the first time and runs from October 5 to 9. The theme is “The World Needs More Space”. The opening ceremony brought together Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır and IAF president Gabriella Arrigo.
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher used the first day to set out a precise thesis: more activity in orbit is not enough. Space, he said, must be judged by how it serves people, societies and countries. It is not an abstraction: space systems today support navigation, communications, weather forecasting, environmental monitoring and emergency response. According to OECD data cited by Aschbacher, satellite systems underpin more than half of the 16 critical infrastructures of the Organization’s member countries. Electricity, banking, healthcare and transport all depend in part on what orbits above our heads.
Cooperation with purpose: the strong partner European countries seek
The second keyword of Antalya is cooperation, but with a stated goal: strength. At the ministerial roundtable on space as a national strategic priority, moderated by Aschbacher, sat delegations from Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Poland and Uzbekistan. Turkish Space Agency president Yusuf Kıraç summed up the mood. The future of space will not be built by a single country or a single agency.
At the heads-of-agency plenary, Aschbacher listed the European network. NASA on the Artemis missions, plus Japan, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, India and the longtime partner Canada. NASA’s “Ignition” event outlined a new approach to lunar exploration. It struck ESA to the point that Aschbacher spoke of inspiration “to be bold” and to become a strong partner. The next day the rhetoric became agenda. There was a bilateral meeting with NASA deputy administrator Matt Anderson. He received a commemorative plaque containing seeds of Zinnia elegans and Capsicum annuum. The seeds flew around the Moon aboard Artemis II. This was followed by the exchange with India’s ISRO. It was the first since the renewal of the cooperation agreement signed two weeks earlier. The dialogue was open to human spaceflight, lunar exploration, climate and scientific missions. Meetings with the Emirates completed the picture. At the end of the first day, ESA met with Canadian space agency interim president Jean-Claude Piedboeuf. He also met the head of the Australian agency, Enrico Palermo.
Not to isolate Europe, quite the opposite: to be a very strong partner with the many countries we already work with, Aschbacher said.
European autonomy after the International Space Station
Behind the diplomacy there is a concrete deadline: the end of International Space Station (ISS) operations and its controlled reentry. In Antalya ESA signed a memorandum of understanding with the American company Vast. It continues a collaboration already underway. It opens the way to possible cooperation in low Earth orbit. The aim is to maintain European access to microgravity research and future flight opportunities for European astronauts once the Station is switched off.
The question of autonomy will face a formal test. Aschbacher confirmed that ESA has a clear mandate to prepare the decisions of the Intermediate Ministerial Meeting in Rome, in December. Among the questions on the table is whether Europe should develop its own astronaut transport capability. In parallel, the ESA stand, 150 square meters under the theme “Elevating the Future of Europe”, displayed the five goals of the Strategy 2040. A roundtable on large satellite constellations in low orbit was led by Gisela Süss and Charlotte Mathieu. It brought together the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal and the consultant Novasary to discuss market growth, legal governance and sustainable use of orbits.
What changes after Antalya
The calendar now sets the pace. By December ESA must bring to Rome concrete options on transport and autonomous capabilities. The talks with India, the United States, Canada, Australia and Turkey will have to turn into shared projects. Knots remain unresolved. Whether Europe will build its own astronaut vehicle. Who will host microgravity research after the ISS and how increasingly crowded orbits will be governed remain open questions. Antalya did not close any of these questions, but it placed them on a path with a precise date and place.
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