ATHENS – It might seem like an unlikely giant step for a country embroiled in so many domestic problems but Greece doesn’t want to miss out on being in space, largely through the work of so many of its noted experts in the field.

The number of Greeks in the field is “disproportionately large compared to the size of the country’s population and economy,” Ioannis Daglis, an Athens University space physics professor and president of the recently established Hellenic Space Center told Kathimerini.

“It is a part of the economy that may not be bigger in size than others, but it is at the cutting edge of a rapidly developing sector,” he told the paper.

Daglis, who also works as a scientific adviser with NASA and the European Space Agency, said that there are dozens of Greek scientists and scientific teams in international space projects, the ESA’s Cluster, Rosetta and BepiColombo missions.

There are also some 50 Greek companies in the field, he adds, constructing parts for satellites, developing smart system software and providing services like mapping, among others, the report said.