May | 2019 | beSPACE

About two months ago, on Wednesday March 13, the Planetarium of the Royal Observatory of Belgium was the location of our 7th Space Dinner. The theme this year was New Space, New Opportunities? The 7th edition of our annual flagship event again broke records, with over 338 registrations and even more people on the waiting list. Space enthusiasts from all kinds of backgrounds found their way to our event, as illustrated in the infographic above!

The event was kicked off with two presentations, one from Benoît Deper from Aerospacelab and one from Agnieszka Łukaszczyk from Planet. Benoît talked about New Space in Belgium and the role his recently founded company has to play in it. Agnieszka, on the other hand, told us about the achievements of Planet and what they have planned for the future.

Following the presentations, the beSPACE Awards 2019 were handed out. The beSPACE Award for Team of the Year 2019 went to the Master of Space Studies for passionately taking on the challenge to teach students from all kinds of backgrounds about space in all its fascinating aspects. The team’s efforts are very much appreciated by their students and have led to an increasing number of students over the years. On top of that, the work of the team has also contributed to the reputation of Belgium in the global space sector. The team is committed to inspire and educate students from all over the world and beSPACE believes the Master of Space Studies will continue to do so for many years to come.

The beSPACE Award for Personality of the Year 2019 went to Benoît Deper for his vision and drive to establish a New Space start-up in Belgium. He is the CEO and founder of Aerospacelab, with the ambitious mission to combine optical data collected via in-house developed small satellites with other types of data for a variety of applications. The data that is collected and processed by his company can support others in their scientific and engineering endeavours. His passionate work also acts as an example for other (space) entrepreneurs. In short, beSPACE hopes that Benoît can play his part in the development of the Belgian and global space industry.

The evening was concluded with the Planetarium show Phantom of the Universe and a walking dinner, allowing the participants to network and talk about space in a relaxed atmosphere.