Dr. Hiroshi Yamakawa, president of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), at Space Symposium on April 9. Photo: Space Foundation

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— Civil space leaders from Germany, Japan, France, Israel, Australia, and India talked about the current state of their country’s space work, and efforts in cooperation and collaboration with other countries, at Space Symposium on Wednesday.

The talk took place the same day that Jared Isaacman, President Trump’s nominee for NASA administrator, had his confirmation hearing before Congress, where lawmakers questioned him on NASA’s commitment to the Artemis Moon exploration program. 

The international leaders emphasized the importance of their work with NASA and the Artemis program.

“NASA is the most important international partner, outside of Europe,” said Walther Pelzer, head of the German Aerospace Center (DLR).  “We are very keen to learn what’s going on at NASA.”

Pelzer said the NASA Artemis generation needs its goal realized. “We [have] a whole generation behind Artemis, and I think that would be a huge mistake if we would disappoint these young people,” he said. 

Cooperation boils down to a clear statement from Germany. Pelzer said Germans will make sure that within the European Space Agency (ESA) community, “Germany is a very reliable international partner, and we stick to all of our commitments.”

Hiroshi Yamakawa, president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), was quick to point out that his country has been collaborating with NASA for decades — nearly 50 years — in a wide range of activities, from space science, to exploration, to human space flight.

Last April, NASA and the Japanese government signed an historic Moon rover agreement, where Japan will design, develop, and operate a pressurized rover for crewed and uncrewed exploration on the Moon.

JAXA is cooperating with a host of both European and Asia-Pacific countries, he said. “I am trying to expand international collaboration with various countries and international organizations in a mutually beneficial way,” Yamakawa said. “One of the objectives is to diversify our space activities and increase resilience.”

Lionel Suchet, acting president of the French space agency CNES, spoke to how long France, a founding member of the ESA, has been working with the Space Shuttle and ISS for years. “We see a lot of private space development initiatives, and we are working at a national level and within ESA to know how to deal with this activity,” he said. “We are working on pushing to have more agreements between private companies.”

The role of space has a much larger importance to the strategic position of every nation, according to Uri Oron, director of Israel Space Agency. “We tend to look at space as the last frontier, or the final frontier, or the ultimate frontier,” Oron said. “Most of us tend to think about science. But I think what happened is that space has become a frontier for international competition and cooperation as well.”

The role of space is so important that governments must act much faster in order to stay relevant. “They must act fast to support the private sector, and they must engage with each other in diplomacy and policy making in order to stay relevant,” Oron said. “Otherwise, the importance of space versus the pace of change and the dramatic changes in the private sector will leave governments behind. We cannot allow this to happen.”

Israel’s partnership work is focused on science and technology, such as an ultraviolet space telescope being built with NASA’s help, with the expectation it will launch by the end of 2027.

Enrico Palermo, head of the Australian Space Agency, said that what his country can offer other countries is its unique geography. “Our role in space has started with our geography, and it’s a key part of what we offer,” Palermo said. “But we offer a lot more, particularly for launch and returns.” 

One example he gave was the agency’s first rocket launch authorization for a German company from a test range in South Australia. “This was a first from a regulatory perspective in Australia, but also really demonstrated what we offer in terms of testing evaluation.”

In recent years, the world has watched the success of India’s space missions, especially after the Chandrayaan-3 landing on the Moon in 2023, said J. Asir Packiaraj, director of the propulsion complex for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

“We are into building rockets, satellites, and applications, from Earth observation, to communication, to space exploration, to taking humans to space and then humans to the Moon,” he said.

India works with NASA, is supported by the ESA, and collaborates with JAXA, the Australian Space Agency, and the Israel Space Agency. “India believes in cooperation with the international community in space,” Packiaraj said. “We work as scientists, as engineers, and as technologists. We always consider space to be the one place which doesn’t have any barrier. That’s the strength of the space community.”