Paris, Sep 9 (EFE).- The International Space Summit began Wednesday in Paris, channeling 5 billion euros in contracts and investments, primarily for the European aerospace sector, seeking to close the gap with powers such as the United States and China.
Promoted by French President Emmanuel Macron, the two-day event also made headlines on its opening day due to notable absences, mainly co-chair German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who was not among the 15 heads of state and government attending the summit.
Two major players in the space sector, Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos) and SpaceX (Elon Musk), were also absent.
However, Macron announced the event led to the signing of contracts and investments for 51 projects worth 5 billion euros, which primarily benefit French companies but also other European consortia such as Airbus and Spain’s Hispasat.
Macron highlighted the agreement with the Amazon Leo satellite network, which entrusts six additional Ariane 64 launches to the French space transportation company Arianespace, thereby bringing the total number of launches planned under the agreement to 24, up from the previous 18, to be carried out between now and 2031 from the Guiana Space Center.
