Dr David Parker
Special Advisor to the Director General. European Space Agency (ESA)
Speaker profile
ESA’s Director of Human and Robotic Exploration from 2016 until 2023, David Parker created its Terrae Novae programme which includes astronaut missions to the ISS, the ExoMars and Mars Sample Return projects as well as Europe’s contributions to Artemis including the European Service Modules for Orion and the lunar Gateway. In 2022, ministers approved a one-third funding boost allowing the
start of the Argonaut missions for sustained lunar exploration throughout the 2030s. David Parker’s thirty-four years in the space sector include fourteen in industry, six with UK research agencies and four as Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency. In 2019, David Parker received the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Geoffrey Pardoe award for long and valued service to the space sector.
