Jean-Yves Le Gall, the most prominent space leader of the global space community, visited Cyprus on Monday and had meetings with the Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation (CSEO).
According to a CSEO press release, the goal is to bridge new major collaborations between Cyprus and the international space sector. In a ceremony held at CSEO, President Le Gall was invited to the Council of CSEO.
President Jean-Yves Le Gall is the Honorary Ambassador of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), an organisation that spans the entire planet and contains all space agencies and corporations (such as NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, SpaceX, Arianespace, Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Houston Space Center, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, etc.). IAF represents an ecosystem with over €400bnannual revenues.
President Le Gall was the President of the IAF during 2016-2019, President of the French Space Agency(CNES), CEO of Arianespace, Chair of the Council of ESA and many other prestigious bodies. He visited Cyprus today as part of his role as Ambassador of the IAF to widen the international collaborations of the members of the Federation, of which Cyprus isa member via CSEO.
The President of CSEO, George A Danos, who is current Vice-Chair for Innovation of COSPAR (the international space research organisation) and representative of Cyprus to the IAF, invited President Le Gall to Cyprus in order to help enhance the space research opportunities available to Cyprus and the cluster members of CSEO.
Danos stated that “we are deeply honoured that President Le Gall accepted our invitation to visit CSEO and Cyprus. It is our strategic goal to see Cyprus further involved in space exploration projects and to see our country attaining a pivotal role in bridging space diplomacy and space research. So far CSEO is hosting in Cyprus over three international space science bodies, which highlights the important role we play in the global space community. With the help of President Le Gall,we believe we can further strengthen the role of our country in the wider region and worldwide, in the field of astronautics.”
During the meetings in Cyprus, President Le Gall was given a tour of the space research facilities of CSEO in Nicosia. He visited the laboratory where the Mars mechanism is being integrated(the instrumentation which is integrated and tested in Cyprus and destined for Mars to date the sediment of the Red Planet).
He also visited the Apollo to Artemis exhibition which is organised by CSEO with the support of the U.S. Embassy. The current and future space projects and plans of CSEO were discussed and a number of international space initiatives that can involve CSEO, its cluster of companies and Cyprus were discussed, and a roadmap was agreed.
As part of the tour, he was also shown the Nicosia Digital Twin project of the CYENS Centre of Excellence, Makerspace and the Smart Cities project of Nicosia, which are co-hosted with CSEO in the Nicosia Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, situated in the heart of the old city. At the end of his visit, during a ceremony at CSEO, President Le Gall was gifted a commemorative plaque.
Source: Cyprus News Agency