Greek Astrophysicist Calls for European Space Autonomy

Europe must achieve greater autonomy in the space sector to respond to geopolitical instability, wars and growing international tensions, Greek astrophysicist Athena Coustenis told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA).

Coustenis, a research director at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and a member of the board of the Hellenic Space Center, took part in the International Space Summit in Paris, where she also represented Greece’s national space agency.

The summit, held in Paris on Wednesday and Thursday, brought together representatives of governments, scientists and businesses to discuss Europe’s future in space.

“It was a very important conference for Europe because Europe must acquire this autonomy in the space sector,” Coustenis said from the Grand Palais in Paris. She said greater autonomy would help Europe respond to wars, adversity and differences between nations.

She said Europe was moving closer to achieving that goal because summits of this kind bring countries and people together. She also noted signs of consensus among European countries as well as participating countries from Africa and Canada.

“Everyone has the same spirit, and this makes me particularly happy,” she said, adding that Europe needed this kind of summit to demonstrate unity. She also welcomed Greece’s equal participation.

Greece prepares for its first astronaut

The summit held particular significance for Greece following Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ announcement of Adrianos Golemis as Greece’s first astronaut.

“It is important that we will have the opportunity to send our own astronaut, who will be able to conduct experiments on the International Space Station,” Coustenis said.

She explained that such experiments could strengthen Greece’s scientific capabilities while also creating opportunities for the country’s industry.

Coustenis is involved in selecting experiments proposed by Greek scientists for the International Space Station. The proposals focus on new research that Greek scientists and industry can support domestically.

The experiments will cover medicine, the human body’s response to microgravity, radiation measurement and materials science.

Greece’s role in space

Coustenis believes Greece can play a significant role in the international space sector.

“Greece has many advantages,” she said, pointing to the country’s satellites, scientists involved in space missions and data relevant to the global space community.

That includes data on climate change, wildfires and the oceans. She described Greece as a hub with much to offer and said the Hellenic Space Center plays a key role in coordinating these capabilities.

Coustenis’ own research focuses on exploring the outer Solar System and investigating conditions that could support life.

She currently participates in four major space missions: the European Space Agency’s JUICE mission, which studies Jupiter and its largest moons; ESA’s ARIEL, which will study the atmospheres of 1,000 exoplanets; NASA’s Dragonfly, which will explore Titan; and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) mission, which will collect samples from Phobos, one of Mars’ moons.

Her presentation on the first day of the summit focused on these missions and the major scientific questions they aim to answer.

Searching for life beyond Earth

Habitability remains one of the central questions in space exploration, Coustenis said, because humanity has long sought to determine whether life could exist elsewhere.

Scientists have already sent around 50 missions to Mars, she noted, because it is Earth’s closest planetary neighbour and lies relatively close to the region around a star where liquid water can exist on a planetary surface.

But scientists are increasingly interested in the outer Solar System, where evidence suggests that oceans exist beneath the icy surfaces of moons orbiting the giant planets.

“These are enormous oceans, with much more water than all the oceans on Earth,” Coustenis said. “So the question is whether we could also have life within these oceans.”

Protecting other worlds and Earth

Another major area of Coustenis’ work involves planetary protection — the rules governing space missions to prevent biological contamination of other worlds and protect Earth from potentially harmful material brought back from space.

These rules include sterilising spacecraft and properly managing samples collected during missions.

Coustenis chairs the Planetary Protection Panel of the international scientific organisation COSPAR and coordinates space agencies and major companies in implementing planetary protection standards.

Despite rapid advances in space exploration, she believes human settlement beyond Earth remains some way off.

“Settlement on Mars is not going to happen before the next two or three decades,” she said, citing discussions with doctors and astronauts about the physiological limits of the human body.

On the Moon, however, she believes bases could become possible within the next decade.

Such facilities would initially remain temporary, she said, because scientists have yet to create a completely closed and self-sustaining biosphere, even on Earth.

“We still have a long way to go before we can create one for more permanent habitation on the Moon,” Coustenis said.

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