  This white paper responds to the Voyage 2050 Call for White Papers from the
Science Programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) and argues that education,
communication and public engagement (hereafter EPE) should have priority in the
Voyage 2050 planning cycle. The ESA Science's Voyage 2050 missions promise
insights into the big existential questions of our era: the prevalence of life
in the Universe; the nature of space and time; and the intertwined nature of
matter, energy and gravity. It is likely that innovations in the acquisition,
handling and processing of vast data sets will drive these themes to scientific
maturity in the next decades. They offer us a timely opportunity to underline
the relevance of space sciences to everyday life and thinking. More generally,
space science is maturing to the point where it contributes to every major
aspect of our cultural discourse. Citizens need information, resources and
opportunities to actively participate in that discourse, and ESA Science can
provide these. This white paper is a modest attempt to support ESA Science
improve its engagement with society. It focuses on issues and topics to improve
ESA Science's Education and Public Engagement activities. It does not dwell on
the topics that ESA already excels at; hence this White Paper provides a
critical review of what should and could be improved. We believe ESA's Voyage
2050 programme teams have a responsibility to represent Europe's social and
cultural diversity, and our suggestions are conceived in that spirit: to
support ESA Science's complex task of engaging a hugely diverse audience in the
complex issues of planning, building and operating fascinating space missions.
