Overview 

ESA cordially invites Delegates, Industry, Academia and Institutions for the second OPS Industry Day.

In 2018 the first successful OPS Industry Day was held by the Operations Directorate, with a focus on innovation in the Space Operations engineering and Space Safety domains. This secured funding at the Ministerial Council 2019 of a Compendium of 19 activities for 16MEUR.

Taking stock of the initial success of this initiative, the Operations Directorate is organising the second OPS Industry day as a platform for exchange to further align its current and future activities with the needs of its stakeholders and partners. The outcome is expected to boost Member States’ Space Industry commercial competitiveness in the domains of Space Operations and Space Safety.

Today, and over the last few exceptionally challenging years, Europe’s mission operations continue to demonstrate the reliability, security and flexibility of the existing ground segment infrastructure systems. However, if we are to meet the future challenges highlighted in ESA’S Agenda 2025, a number of areas require urgent attention. These include digitalisation, cybersecurity, environmental protection, artificial intelligence and automation.

Responding to these challenges for the benefit of all of our stakeholders requires the joint definition of a number of high-potential opportunities for industry.

Furthermore, the OPS activities will also expand in the area of small missions in particular in the context of Space Weather, Planetary Defence and Space Debris/Cleanspace applications where ambitious developments on ground are required. These activities offer appealing opportunities for industrial leadership at ground segment system, component and subcomponent levels, as well as for academia and institutions.

On this OPS Industry Day we will jointly discuss major themes of strategic interest for both ESOC and Industrial partners. The outcome is expected to be reflected in the ESA Programmes heading to the next ministerial conference, including S2P, GSTP as well as Basic Activities. It also offers the opportunity for networking, such as B2B, in a virtual environment, supporting the development of future partnerships.

The Operations Directorate and ESA is looking forward to receiving ideas and contributions to better shape the "competitive element", to support the needs of industry, in the essential domains of Space Operations and Space Safety in Europe.