Dutch nationals at the helm of key ESA programme boards
In the coming years, the Netherlands will hold the chairmanship of two key programme boards of the European Space Agency (ESA). The roles are filled by NLSA board members Joost Carpay (ESA Science Programme Committee) and Jasper van Loon (ESA Programme Board Earth Observation). Both boards are of great importance to the future direction of the European space agency and to the space sector in the Netherlands.
NLSA board member Joost Carpay is becoming Chair of the Science Programme Committee (SPC), the most independent body within ESA and the only one explicitly mentioned in the founding charter. The SPC meets three times a year to make decisions regarding the Science Programme, to which all member states are required to contribute in proportion to their gross national product.
ESA’s Science Programme has produced dozens of groundbreaking missions, including the comet hunter Rosetta, the X-ray observatory XMM-Newton, and the Gaia space telescope, which continues to yield discoveries about our galaxy, the Milky Way. European contributions to famous space telescopes such as Hubble and James Webb were also facilitated through the SPC.
‘It is a great honour for the Netherlands to hold this important chairmanship,’ said Carpay. ‘We are living in a time of geopolitical turmoil. Partners we have been able to rely on for decades are proving unpredictable. Now, more than ever, unity within Europe is essential.’
Distinguished line
Joost Carpay has been involved with the SPC since 1990—initially as an advisor, and for the past twenty years as the delegate representing Dutch interests on the council. He becomes the third Dutch chair in a distinguished line, following Johan Bleeker (1983–1986) and Roel Gathier (2014–2016).
Trust and visibility
As independent chair, Carpay has at least two key priorities for the coming years. “ESA member states all have their own individual wishes, but also their own respective strengths to contribute. By aligning these even more effectively, we can continue to play a leading role in scientific space research in Europe,” says Carpay. “A neutral chair can play a unifying role in this regard.” Secondly, as far as he is concerned, the visibility of the SPC and the science programme could be improved. Carpay: “Europe is doing incredible things in space—from visiting a comet or an icy moon to mapping a universe filled with black holes and cosmic explosions. It remains important that we continue to inspire people of all ages across Europe with this work.”
But there is another reason to raise the profile of the missions within the science programme: ‘Within the SPC, countries collaborate intensively, structurally, and stably on an ambitious scientific programme. This is of great strategic importance to Europe. The scientific questions place extremely high demands on the technology required for these ESA missions. This results in innovative space technology that is also highly suitable for applications on Earth.’
The Netherlands also benefits greatly from ESA’s Science Programme, Carpay explains. Dutch scientists use data from ESA missions to conduct world-class astronomical research. Furthermore, in the coming years, Dutch companies and knowledge institutions will develop hardware for projects such as the NewAthena X-ray telescope and the LISA mission, which is designed to measure gravitational waves.
‘Participation in the Science programme also advances our national space industry,’ says Carpay. ‘For instance, the Netherlands built the solar panels for ESA’s JUICE mission to Jupiter. This subsequently led to a contract from the US to build the solar panels for the American Jupiter mission, Europa Clipper, as well.’
ESA Programme Boards
Decision-making within the European Space Agency (ESA) is organized along the lines of a national administration. Day-to-day management is the responsibility of the Directorate General, headed by the Director General. The principal governing body is the ESA Council. This Council defines the European space strategy, approves programmes and budgets, and determines the available resources. The ESA Council meets at ministerial level every three years. In the interim, programme boards prepare decisions or—acting under delegation from the Council—make decisions themselves.
Earth Observation Programme Board
Jasper van Loon, a member of the NLSA executive team, is the second Dutch national to be elected chair of a programme board. Over the coming years, he will lead the ESA Programme Board for Earth Observation (PB-EO). Acting under the authority of the ESA Council, this board decides on new ESA Earth Explorer and Scout missions and makes key decisions regarding ESA’s contributions to Copernicus, the European Earth observation programme.
In addition to these programs, the program board also decides on Earth observation initiatives in which countries can choose to invest voluntarily. For the Netherlands, this primarily concerns Incubed, which enables Dutch companies and institutes to develop innovative technology for spaceflight and space-based applications on Earth.
Van Loon has been a member of the Earth Observation Council since 2017. Now that he is becoming chair, he does not want to simply ‘mind the shop’. He sees room for improvement in the decision-making process: ‘In recent years, promising projects have fallen through because there was no unanimity. I want to see if we, as a council, can approach this differently. If one of the member states has reservations, can we reach a compromise together?’
A prime example is the TANGO-mission mission for anthropogenic greenhouse gases—a largely Dutch-led initiative—which is set to launch in 2028. This mission came about solely thanks to the Netherlands’ great persistence and an appeal to member states to prioritize the common interest of climate change research.
A second challenge awaits Van Loon. ‘His’ Earth observation programme board is set to engage with a major new stakeholder: the defence sector. Under the European Resilience from Space (ERS) initiative, Earth observation capabilities are being approached not only from a civil security perspective but also from a defence standpoint. ‘This topic has sparked debate for years, and that is set to continue. Here, too, large and small member states must join forces in the interest of a secure Europe.’
