The European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius reminded the almost 2 000 participants of the key role of space in Europe: "We need a strong European presence in space, to defend Europe. Over the years we have built a unique European presence in space that serves all humanity,” he said.

The European Space Agency Director of Science, Carole Mundell, ESA Director of Space Transportation, Toni Tolker-Nielsen, and Arianespace Chief Commercial Officer, Steven Rutgers, have signed a launch agreement to fly ESA's scientific mission Plato. Plato, PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars, is ESA’s groundbreaking mission to discover potentially habitable planets around stars very similar to our Sun, and study thousands of exoplanets in detail, focusing on terrestrial ones. 

Plato will board the Ariane 62 – the version of Ariane 6 with two boosters – for a launch from Europe’s Spaceport, in French Guiana, end of 2026, and will be placed into orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L2.  It will be the first science mission to fly on Ariane 6, following a string of successful Science missions on Ariane launchers.