Stars, strategy, and great ambitions: Space Conference united Europe in Aalborg

By Mette Hjorth Rasmussen, AAU Communication and Public Affairs
Photos: Lasse Møller Badstue

It was anything but quiet when 400 space enthusiasts visited Space Conference 2025 this Monday and Tuesday, hosted by AAU and the Department of Electronic Systems.

This year, the event was particularly remarkable because the Ministry of Higher Education and Science – as a regular co-organizer – had designated Space Conference 2025 as the presidency conference in honor of Denmark’s EU presidency.

Head of the Department of Electronic Systems, Mads Græsbøll Christensen, was impressed by the impact the conference had on the Danish and European space scene:

“The conference truly showcased how strong we are in space technology in North Jutland, and it made a great impression on me to see companies, researchers, and students standing side by side at the conference.”

The importance of the North Jutland ecosystem within space technology was also one of the central messages in Rector Per Michael Johansen’s welcome speech.

"In the last three decades AAU has created an international research environment within space technology. And the university is home to some of Europe’s most cited researchers in the field. Based on this strong research environment, Northern Jutland has become a hub for the Danish space industry and home to a cluster of some of Denmark’s largest space companies," he said.

After the rector’s welcome, the keynote speakers took the stage.

Former Prime Minister and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen did not hold back when emphasizing the necessity of great ambitions, investments and concrete actions if Europe is to become independent of the superpowers USA and China in the space sector.

Both Minister of Higher Education and Science Christina Egelund and EU Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius, unveiled their great visions.

On the first day of the conference, the government announced a massive investment of 2.7 billion kroner in research and technology development within the space sector. At the same time, the EU Commission is working to create European independence, competitive launch pads and a joint European space shield.

But even though the current pressure to get Europe up to speed with the rest of the world was a major theme, another aspect also became very clear.

Namely, that space will become a commercial playing field in the future. In the future, it will not be state organizations like the European Space Agency (ESA) or the American NASA that own space stations, launch pads or space freight services. Instead, they will become customers and rent on equal terms with other actors. This development is already well underway.

Astronaut Andreas Mogensen explained, among other things, that space represents a huge business potential, and that ESA has developed plans for their role and opportunities in this new reality.

The voice of youth was also present at the conference

Both high school students and university students had the opportunity to speak. Around 150 high school students participated in the Youth Space Conference, organized by the House of Natural Sciences. Here, they had the chance to present their own vision for future space missions to Astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Minister of Higher Education and Science Christina Egelund.

Both Andreas Mogensen and Christina Egelund also participated in the subsequent Q&A session for university students, where they discussed the students’ many questions together with EU Commissioner Andrius Kubilius.

Students from the student organizations SatLab and AAU Space Robotics were also present with exhibitions of robots and satellite prototypes – ready to talk about their work to the many space enthusiasts present.

Next steps

Although the conference is now over, and next year’s edition will be held in Copenhagen by the ESA Business Incubation Center, the space sector remains a key agenda at AAU and the Department of Electronic Systems.

That’s why 26 space attachés and representatives from across Europe also visited the institute the day after the conference. Here, they experienced the institute’s laboratory facilities and gained insight into strategic initiatives such as the construction of Tech Lab, which begins next year, the strengthening of research in the new Space Tech Center, and the prospect of launching the next student-developed satellite, AAUSAT6.