
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.
Presentations
- Benoît Deper – Newspace in Belgium (coming soon!)
- Agnieszka Łukaszczyk – See Change. Change the World.
Sponsored by
Antwerp Space – Space Applications Services – Planetarium of the Royal Observatory of Belgium

Sponsor content
Antwerp Space
- System Engineers specialised in Navigation, Radar or Communication Systems
- Business Development Manager Institutional market
- Project Manager Flight Projects
- Antwerp Space will be present at the Paris Air Show 2019 in Le Bourget from 17 to 23 June 2019. You can visit us at the OHB stand: 2c – C 318
- Antwerp Space will be present at IAC 2019 in Washington from 21 to 25 October 2019
Space Applications Services
- Software Engineer – Mission Planning Software Development
- Software Engineer – Mission Control Software Development
- Software Engineer – Embedded Software
- Our Website: First Anniversary! Space Applications Services’ new website has been released in May 2018. Visit our website to know more about our expertise over the last 30 years, our commercial products and our career opportunities. In July 2019, we will also publish a corporate video. Watch this space! https://www.spaceapplications.com/ and http://www.icecubesservice.com/
- Aerospace Applications North America – New Website! Space Applications Services has a subsidiary company in the United States of America, called “Aerospace Applications North America” (AANA). Its new website has just been launched. https://aerospaceapplications-na.com/