I recently posted an opinion piece on this platform entitled ESA, the European Suboptimal Agency. In it I express my concern and thoughts about why I think the geo-return policy at ESA for hiring and contracting needs to change. From received feedback I conclude that more people have similar concerns. Following a suggestion from this feedback I set up a petition. If you also would like to see a serious discussion happening among the ESA member states around this topic, then consider signing the petition and/or contact the ESA delegation of your country to express your opinion. You can find the contacts of all delegates at https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/spc.
In the second half of November 2026 there will be the tri-annual Science Programme Committee (SPC) meeting (ESA meetings 2026 / 2027). I intend to send the link to the opinion piece and the results of the petition to the SPC-delegates before that meeting. It is true, ESA is a lot more than the Science Programme alone, but it could be a start (or not, we shall see!).
See the petition here and consider signing it before the 15th of November 2026.
