The Space Policy Pioneers Podcast · Science in Space

Space Policy in an Industry Association - a conversation with Charles Galland, ASD Eurospace

·33 min·2 clips

Charles says experience matters more than degree, and he learned space policy entirely on the job.

1. The Space Policy Pioneers Podcast episode is about space policy work inside ASD Eurospace and how Charles Galland got there. 2. Andy Williams hosts as director of Science in Space, and Charles Galland appears as policy manager for ASD Eurospace, a European space industry trade association. 3. The episode asks what Eurospace does, how Charles entered the role, and what skills matter in Brussels-based space policy. 4. Charles says he studied political science, then completed two master’s degrees in international relations and European politics before working at Unilever in its European affairs team. 5. He explains that the move to Brussels was first about understanding the “Brussels bubble” and seeing how EU lobbying and institutions interact. 6. A lecture from a space lobbyist in Strasbourg showed him that a political science background could lead to space policy work. 7. Charles says his family background in Toulouse and his father’s career at Airbus kept him near the space sector even before he considered it professionally. 8. He says he wrote his master’s thesis on space, then shifted attention back to Brussels through a job in Berlin on social policy. 9. Eurospace is described as the trade association for upstream European space industry, covering satellite and launcher manufacturers. 10. Charles says Eurospace has three missions: advocacy, compliance, and policy and market analysis for members. 11. He says the association represents about 90% of European space industry turnover and about 60% of employment. 12. Charles says his role is to track EU and ESA activity, inform members, and carry member messages back into institutions. 13. He names the main counterparts as industry public-affairs teams, Commission staff, Parliamentarians, assistants, and Permanent Representation officials. 14. He says the European space sector is small enough that people repeatedly meet the same contacts at conferences and meetings. 15. Charles says Eurospace’s value is strengthening a common message so that individual company positions can be coordinated around one paper. 16. He says the work often means reading 30-page EU or ESA documents, extracting the key points, and summarizing them in two or three pages. 17. He describes two kinds of days: back-office drafting with working groups and external meetings with institutions or conferences. 18. The tone is practical and interview-driven, with Andy pressing for concrete examples and Charles answering in a measured, explanatory style. 19. People interested in EU policy, space industry advocacy, and Brussels networking would likely value this episode. 20. Listeners seeking technical engineering content or a pure space-technology discussion may skip it.

As heard by us

A clear look at how space policy gets turned into usable language.

Space policy is treated here as institutional work rather than slogan-making. Charles Gallon, policy manager for ASD Eurospace, is shown moving from undergraduate political science and two master's degrees in international relations and European politics into a role built around…

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See how space policy gets turned into consensus.

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