The Asteroid Foundation’s annual Festival returned to Cercle Cité, drawing nearly 1.200 visitors and reaching 800 students in schools nationwide.
The Asteroid Day Festival brought space science to Luxembourg, capping a week-long ASPIRE education programme in which astronauts Julie Payette and Mike Foreman, astrophysicist Kathrin Altwegg and astronomer Gianluca Masi visited six schools across the country. Read our classroom interviews with Julie Payette, Mike Foreman and Dorin Prunariu.
Over the weekend, 1.100 visitors attended talks, workshops and hands-on activities covering planetary defence, asteroid science and unconventional space careers, following a Friday evening stargazing session that drew 100 participants.
The Festival’s backing illustrates how deeply space has become woven into Luxembourg’s economic strategy. The Luxembourg Space Agency co-organised the event, alongside local space-resources players GomSpace, OHB and ClearSpace, and research institutions including the University of Luxembourg’s SnT and the European Space Resources Innovation Centre (ESRIC). The European Space Agency and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space also lent their support, underscoring Luxembourg’s role as a European hub for space-resources policy since it launched its SpaceResources.lu initiative a decade ago.
“Seeing families spend hours listening to scientific talks, asking thoughtful questions and discovering something new reminded me why we organise the Asteroid Day Festival,” said Anna Bordus, Executive Director of the Asteroid Foundation. “It showed that space science and fun really can coexist, and that people’s curiosity and willingness to learn are stronger than the heat.”
Professor Ilan Kelman praised “the fascinating and well-balanced panels, the variety of activities, and the excellent audience questions and discussions.”
By bringing astronauts directly into classrooms, the ASPIRE programme also feeds a longer-term ambition: building the talent pipeline a small country needs to keep punching above its weight in the space sector.
The Festival marked the start of the countdown to Asteroids2029, the UN’s International Year of Asteroid Awareness, ahead of asteroid Apophis’s 2029 close approach, a milestone where Luxembourg aims to keep its seat at the table on planetary defence.
