Luxembourg Prioritises Space Sector Collaboration on California Working Trip

On Thursday 7 March 2024, the second part of the working visit of Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Xavier Bettel, and the Minister of the Economy, SMEs, Energy and Tourism, Lex Delles, to California in the United States, was focused on the space sector.

The delegation visited the Ames Research Center of NASA, the United States government agency responsible for the civil space programme and aeronautical research. Since 1939, this research centre located in Silicon Valley has carried out activities in the fields of aeronautics, exploration technology and science. The Ames Research Center houses unique facilities, including the world's largest wind tunnel and NASA's fastest supercomputers.

Note that the space sector is among the priorities of the Luxembourg government, which aims in particular to further promote the use of space technologies and applications to meet societal challenges and to bring Luxembourg technologies to the surface of the moon, Luxembourg’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Defence, Cooperation and Foreign Trade noted. The successful collaboration between NASA and the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) pursues various objectives, including the commercial use of space through the sharing of scientific data and the sustainable use of space resources. In addition, Luxembourg is among the first signatories of the “Artemis” agreements of NASA's manned space programme, which aims to establish the foundations for a sustainable human presence on the moon. During the visit to the Ames Research Center, Ministers Bettel and Delles highlighted the close link between Luxembourg and NASA and spoke in favour of deepening existing collaborations. Eugene Tu, director of the Ames Research Center, plans to visit Luxembourg sites linked to the space sector in April 2024, the ministry added.

Minister Delles declared in this context that he is convinced that “the use of technologies in the space domain has enormous potential. Space has a major role to play in meeting societal challenges as well as in resolving issues specific to other sectors. In order to promote the Luxembourg space sector, it is important that the country is visible and competitive at the international level. Close collaboration with major space nations will particularly advance the Luxembourg space ecosystem.”

The delegation also visited Microsoft, one of the world leaders in information technology. During this meeting, Microsoft and the Luxembourg Post group signed a memorandum of understanding, defining their principles of collaboration and aiming to encourage innovation and facilitate the use of artificial intelligence technology in Luxembourg.

Minister Bettel welcomed the good cooperation with Microsoft, emphasising the importance of constructive dialogue on international cooperation in the areas of responsible artificial intelligence and the regulatory framework for AI.