On November 26 and 27, 2025, the European Space Agency (ESA) Ministerial Council Conference took place in Bremen. Representatives from ESA member states – including all ministers responsible for space, political decision-makers, and executives from space agencies – came together to discuss the strategic orientation and funding of European space travel for the next three years.

At the evening reception hosted by Andreas Bovenschulte, Mayor of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General, and Dorothee B?r, Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space, also spoke about the strategic importance and academic basis of European space travel.

The new “The Martian Mindset” Cluster of Excellence, which will be supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for seven years starting in January 2026, is an important building block for European space research and beyond. The scarcity of resources and extreme conditions on Mars serve as an experimental setting for developing a new paradigm of sustainability that enables innovative, resource and energy-saving processes for material extraction and handling. In the long term, the cluster aims to contribute to sustainable space exploration and promote green change on Earth.

In addition to “The Martian Mindset,” the University of Bremen will also receive support for the Cluster of Excellence “The Ocean Floor – Earth’s Uncharted Interface” starting in January 2026, which involves researchers from the University of Bremen and the University of Oldenburg. Together, both universities recently submitted a joint proposal to the DFG as a University Excellence Consortium entitled “Northwest Alliance – Connecting for Tomorrow.”