It is with deep regret and a very great sadness that we announce the passing of Harald Posch, the Chair of the ESA Council, on Thursday 21 May in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. He was aged 60.

The death of Harald Posch leaves an immense void and is a tremendous loss to his family, to our Agency and to the European space community as a whole. His contribution to Europe’s efforts in space cannot be overstated. He was a great servant of ESA, of Europe’s space community and, of course, of his homeland, Austria, and we will miss him dearly.

Harald Posch’s career in the space sector spanned more than three decades, first in industry with Austrian Aerospace and Österreichische Raumfahrt- und Systemtechnik GmbH, then in governmental service.

Since 2005, he led Austria’s Aeronautics and Space Agency, part of the Research Promotion Agency, the FFG. In this function, he was key in shaping Austria’s engagement in space and represented his country in international forums and organisations. He was also instrumental in the setting up of the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) in Vienna, and served as Chair of its General Assembly since its inception.

Within ESA, too, Harald Posch held the most prominent of roles, in particular those of Industrial Policy Committee (IPC) Chair and, from 1 July 2014, Chair of Council. In this latter function, he played a central role in the preparation of last year’s Council meeting at ministerial level in Luxembourg.

Upon hearing the sad news, ESA’s Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain said, “ESA is once again mourning the loss of a dear friend, a warm-hearted, dedicated person, known for his integrity, who was an example to all who knew him. Harald was able to lead different governing bodies within ESA, such as the Industrial Policy Committee and the Council, with authority but always with a smile, and in a balanced way. We are privileged to have worked alongside him and are grateful for the very great contribution he made to this Agency and to the European space community more generally. Our thoughts in these extremely sad times are, of course, with his family.”