Space is an integral part of our daily lives. It provides crucial solutions and support for monitoring, early warning, and emergency response in case of catastrophic events.
Space inspires, protects future generations, and shapes our economic growth.
Securing Space
We need to understand that safety of space assets is crucial. The European Space Agency (ESA) is working to ensure that European space-based services are secure and that Earth’s orbital space is responsibly managed.
The recent ESA Council at ministerial level decided to strengthen Europe’s space ambitions, with a record-breaking, new budget envelope of 16.9 billion euros.
One of the core ambitions is secure connectivity. The Council reached a provisional agreement on the Regulation establishing the European Union’s space-based Secure Connectivity Programme for 2023-2027, aimed at deploying the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS2).
ESA’s FutureNAV program will strengthen and ensure the safety of the Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) system. Through this program, we will be able to respond to future trends and the needs of satellite navigation in the field of PNT.
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Boost to Industry
The rise of commercial use of space is transforming the space industry worldwide. ESA supports the European space industry and fosters commercialization.
Satellite navigation, secure telecommunications and integrated applications, transportation, weather and climate monitoring, and other diverse security related applications have promising commercial markets and revenue models. This is where Europe wants to position itself and it’s something that we are excited about.
Bolstering innovation is one of our priorities – the more innovation, the stronger we become. Innovation can come from newcomers, startups, and the space ecosystem’s legacy players.
We need to understand that safety of space assets is crucial. ESA is working to ensure that European space based services are secure and that Earth’s orbital space is responsibly managed
We have got the ESA ScaleUp program that aims to make Europe a hub for space commercialization by providing business incubation, business acceleration, intellectual property, and technology transfer services to new companies while ensuring that business ideas scale-up in new marketplaces and attract private and institutional investors.
High Priority Areas
Climate change is the biggest challenge that humanity will handle in the coming decades. One of the ESA’s “Accelerators” – Space for a Green Future, is our response to the global environmental crisis. Under this, we are constructing a Digital Twin of Earth. Earth observation data will be combined with in-situ environmental measurements and AI to provide an accurate representation of the world’s past, present and future changes.
Another initiative is delivering critical data and information that can help us assess scenarios for policy implementation and reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and support its Green Deal.
ESA Member States have once again agreed on the importance of ESA’s Earth observation programs. This includes funding for FutureEO, ESA’s world-leading Earth science, research, and development program that harnesses innovation and develops pioneering missions while fostering innovative ways of using Earth observation data.
With the current geopolitics and the paradigm shift on the space ecosystem, the future provides an opening for many opportunities.
We are committed to work with our international partners to ensure safe, sustainable, and clean space. Space is being integrated into our daily life more than ever, and even though it looks big, it’s a limited aspect.
(Dr. Heriberto Saldivar is the Head of Foresight & Strategy Dept., ESA HQ Paris. The views expressed in the article are the personal opinions of the author.)
Disclaimer: Views Expressed are Author's Own. Geospatial World May or May Not Endorse it
