Floral Games to end the four months without a director of the Spanish Space Agency
The first thing that stands out is that, in practice, the ESA has been without an Executive Director for four months, the person who has the capacity and responsibility to assume the direction, coordination and management of the Agency, according to its Statutes.
Four months without a director means that 33 percent of the Agency's lifetime has not been, or could not have been, as efficient as could be expected, even though its acting director, Air Force General Juan Carlos Sánchez Delgado, will be the one to steer the ship from the end of 2023 until there is white smoke?
In mid-January, a selection committee was set up to fill the vacant seat. Its six members have studied, analysed and assessed the documents requested from the more than 20 candidates vying to become the new head of ESA.
The Committee has also conducted personal interviews with a short list of shortlisted candidates. With all the data in the shaker, the president of the ESA, the Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, has had the shortlist of people on the table of her office in the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid for about three weeks now, who the evaluation team considers to be the most suitable candidates.
Space Flower Games
But the ESA is two-headed, it is attached both to the portfolio held by Diana Morant and to the Department of Defence headed by the magistrate Margarita Robles, who must also know and report on which candidate she considers most suitable. However, Defence has not yet been consulted, does not officially know who makes up the shortlist and, therefore, has not yet expressed its opinion.
In light of the facts described above, it is clear that Minister Morant has decided not to run. It is well known that haste is a bad counsellor. She has the responsibility for Science, Innovation and Universities and the presidency of the ESA on her shoulders. As if that were not enough, for the past few weeks she has been the secretary general of the PSOE branch in the Valencian Community, an aspect of the political struggle on which she seems to have her head focuse.
So, taking into account that the candidates have already been evaluated on their experience and competences in programming and managing scientific and technological space projects, there is nothing better than dedicating a second four-month period to thinking about the complementary skills and aptitudes that should adorn whoever is to be the new director of ESA.
So it seems reasonable that the minister Diana Morant, former mayoress of Gandía (Valencia) and who at the age of 24 was fallera mayor of the beautiful ducal city, the same city where San Francisco de Borja (1510-1572) -member of one of the most influential families of the Spanish Renaissance- was born, should call for a special and restricted Space Floral Games
That way, he would have the opportunity to discern which of the three nominees write the best verses and poems, declaim them with the greatest emotion and are a source of inspiration for Spanish scientists and engineers to develop instruments and equipment for satellites, spacecraft and rockets.
Envy of the Americans, Russians, Chinese and Japanese
The fact that the head of ESA was in possession of the Natural Flower, the highest award given for winning the Floral Games in a fair fight, would be a fitting culmination of the selection process.
You will agree with me that wearing the Natural Flower of the Space Flower Games on your jacket lapel would make the heads of the space agencies of the United States (NASA), Russia (Roscosmos), Japan (JAXA), India (ISRO), China (CNSA), to name but a few, envious
To conclude. The scientists, military and national space sector managers I have had the opportunity to ask ask ask that "whoever is anointed should have a high personal capacity to take the helm of the ESA in a European and global scenario with competition that is growing daily".
They are aware that "difficult problems await the new director, given the type of projects he or she will have to manage". Therefore, they hope that he or she will be a person "involved in and knowledgeable about the military and civilian aspects of the sector" and that his or her proposals and decisions "will be supported and reinforced by the president of the ESA and by the Administration".
There is unanimous agreement that "in practice, the ESA is not yet constituted". There are many areas, for example launchers and Earth observation, to cite just two examples, in which "the industry feels orphaned, as it does not have an interlocutor in the Agency". In short, there is a need for "someone to step up quickly and get the new institution up to speed". No doubt, the Floral Games would be the icing on the cake of the selection process. Diana, don't let it go to waste.