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The first day of the summit is devoted to a meeting of ministers from the 22 ESA member states, which includes most European Union nations as well as the UK, Switzerland and Norway. Tuesday will be dedicated to a joint EU-ESA meeting.
The head of the European Space Agency (ESA) was speaking at the start of two days of ministerial talks in Seville, Spain, on efforts to shore up Europe's faltering launcher programmes and galvanise human and robotic exploration activities.
Europe has carved out a leading role in climate observation, navigation and space science but has not targeted a prime role in human exploration, opting instead for a junior role in projects led by US space agency NASA or until recently Russia.