At the 9th New Space Atlantic Summit, Francisco Serdoura highlighted the importance of preparing the country for the challenges of human health in extreme environments and for the scientific and technological opportunities associated with space exploration
Aerospace medicine represents a strategic opportunity for Portugal to make its mark in the new era of space exploration. This was the message put forward by 4LifeLAB at the 9th New Space Atlantic Summit, held on 24 and 25 June in Lisbon, which brought together national and international experts to discuss the future of the space economy, science, innovation and defence.
Under the theme ‘The Architecture of Power: Geopolitics in the Second Era of Space Exploration’, the conference encouraged reflection on the new paradigms of sovereignty and cooperation in the space sector, at a time when this sector is becoming increasingly important for Europe’s security, competitiveness and resilience.
At the invitation of the Portuguese Space Agency, Francisco Serdoura, CEO of 4LifeLAB, took part in the panel discussion ‘Space Exploration: What role for Portugal?’, where he highlighted the importance of preparing the country for the challenges of human health in extreme environments and of developing scientific, clinical and technological expertise that could contribute to future space missions.
Chaired by Hugo André Costa of the Portuguese Space Agency, the panel also featured Cristóvão Sousa, Director of Research and Development at GIMM CARE; Fausto Pinto, Director of the Centre for Space Medicine Studies; and Rui Diniz, CEO of CUF.
The discussion took place at a time when Portugal is seeking to strengthen its involvement in space research and when aerospace medicine is gaining prominence as an area of scientific and technological development.
In this context, Francisco Serdoura highlights Portugal’s potential to contribute to this emerging field: “Space exploration poses new challenges for medicine and innovation in healthcare, but it also opens up opportunities to develop knowledge and technologies with applications on Earth. Portugal possesses scientific, clinical and technological expertise that can contribute to this emerging field. Collaboration between institutions will be essential to transform this potential into research and innovation projects.”
Taking part in the 9th New Space Atlantic Summit “reinforces 4LifeLAB’s role in promoting innovation in healthcare and biomedical research, linking these fields to the challenges of space exploration. 4LifeLAB is keen to collaborate in developing a national vision for aerospace medicine”, concludes Francisco Serdoura.
