During the 2020 Web Summit, held virtually but "based" in Lisbon, CGTN Europe's Juliet Mann hosted a conversation with the European Space Agency's Director General Jan Woerner. 

Woerner explained the ESA's future plans, which focus on three key destinations: the International Space Station, the Moon, and Mars, in a "new era of ESA exploration."

Describing the Moon as an "archive" of the time when the Earth was created, Woerner told Mann that collaboration was now the name of the game in the journey to the Moon - which has progressed recently with the Chang'e mission and future ESA plans in the works. 

Rather than recreate the space race of the 1960s and 70s, Woerner said the goal was to collaborate to use new technologies: 

"Let's not go back to the moon, let's go forward to the moon," he said. 

Visiting space can teach us about our own planet, he observed, citing the impact of climate change on Venus and Mars.

European Union citizens have expressed willingness in surveys to pay $347 euros a year for space programmes, compared with the annual 10 euros that the European Space Agency actually costs them, he told Mann.

Click here to watch Part Two of the conversation 

Visiting space can teach us about our own planet, he observed, citing the impact of climate change on Venus and Mars.

European Union citizens have expressed willingness in surveys to pay $347 euros a year for space programmes, compared with the annual 10 euros that the European Space Agency actually costs them, he told Mann.

Click here to watch Part Two of the conversation and learn what drinking recycled coffee means in space