June, 28 2023 | 6 - 7:30 p.m. | Lecture Hall VII, Main Building University of Bonn

Eighth event of the lecture series „Nach den Sternen greifen. Der Weltraum als Wirtschafts-, Lebens- und Wettbewerbsraum im 21. Jahrhundert“ (Summer Semester 2023) with Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. rer. pol. habil. Michael Lauster.

The development of the technology field "space flight" covers many stages: from purely military-driven origins as a means to effectively deliver weapons, to the prestige project "moon landing" to demonstrate ideological superiority, to a tool for scientific exploration of the universe and the origins of life, to a way for private industry to develop new business models and to solve earthly problems more efficiently with space-based means than with earth-based ones.

All of these uses of space technologies are present in parallel today and are becoming increasingly important to our (survival) lives. We all use services created using these technologies on a daily basis. At the same time, the application of space-based systems to ensure the functioning of our Critical Infrastructures has reached such a scale that a disruption of these systems would immediately result in significant restrictions to societal life - space has become a Critical Infrastructure itself within a few decades.

Reason enough, therefore, not only to look at the history and status quo of spaceflight, but also to give more thought to the strategic further development of spaceflight in Germany and Europe. The German government's space strategy is to be revised and relaunched this year. With the help of scenarios, the lecture tries to show the framework conditions under which such a strategy development takes place and which goals could become important for spaceflight in Germany in this and the next decade.

Opening remarks:

Dr. Enrico Fels
Executive Director of the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies, University of Bonn

Lecture:

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. rer. pol. habil. Michael Lauster
Institute Director, Fraunhofer Institute for Scientific and Technical Trend Analysis INT, Spokesman Fraunhofer Aviation&Space Alliance

Moderation:

Dr. Cedric Bierganns
Consultant Security Policy and Federal Armed Forces, Federal City Bonn Office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation