My name is Katherine Hadler. I’m the Director of ESRIC. Esric is the European Space Resources Innovation Center. It is based here in Luxembourg. It is part of the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, and our other major stakeholder is the Luxembourg Space Agency. Esric has a very clear mission mission, and its mission is to be a center of excellence in the field of Space resources, so supporting everything related to science, technology, and business for Space resources.

The field of Space resources is all about using the resources we find in Space to support Space exploration and a future in Space economy.

So resources such as oxygen and water from the moon can be used to provide rocket propellent, can be used to support human life.

There are other resources, such as the dust that coats the surface of the moon, the regolith. This can be used for construction and for manufacturing of things. And all of this can be used to support human exploration and beyond our planet. This is important for the Space sector because it really unlocks the potential of Space travel. It means that we don’t have to take everything that we need for Space exploration with us.

We can find propellant, we can find building materials in Space and use them in Space to support our exploration into the future. The use of resources in Space is not just about Space exploration, but it also has application on Earth as well. In Space, we need to make use of everything. We cannot leave any waste. We must be careful of the environmental impact of our activities in Space. And that has relevance to us on Earth as well. We are all very aware of the huge impact of our relationship with resources on Earth, the impact of mining and other resources that we use.

And by looking at Space resources and how we can do this in a way that leaves minimal environmental impact, we can apply some of these concepts back on Earth, rethinking our relationship with resources on Earth.

And that’s how Esric will contribute towards SDG in terms of sustainable resource consumption.

The message I would like to send to the visitors of Space for our planet is to think very carefully about what Space resources means, both for Space exploration and for us on Earth. I think we are very disconnected from where our resources come from on Earth. Actually, by thinking about the resources that we need to support humans in Space, it allows us to think differently about our resources that we use on Earth.