The minister of science and innovation, diana morant, has participated in the informal competitiveness council meeting on space held in Toulouse (France), which has addressed the common strategy of the EU on the management of space traffic and the development of a secure connectivity constellation.
During her talk, Morant conveyed Spain’s decided commitment to continue supporting science and innovation in the space sector and she anticipated that, with this in mind, the Spanish government will foster the creation of a Spanish Space Agency and the Aerospace PERTE.
The minister highlighted that the agency is a key part in Spain’s strategy for competitiveness and innovation, since it will streamline space traffic, improve the management of information and facilitate the access of Spanish companies to international markets. In this regard, the minister explained that the agency’s creation is one of the main points in the amendment of the Law on Science, Technology and Innovation fostered by the government of Spain, which will aim to strengthen the Spanish Science, Technology and Innovation system.
This week, the EU has issued a joint statement establishing a common space traffic management approach. Its goal is to develop specific initiatives - both operational and legal to promote a safe, protected and sustainable use of space, as well as preserve the strategic autonomy of the EU and the industry’s competitiveness. The EU approach focuses on four issues: assessing the needs of the civilian and military sectors in regard to space traffic and its impact on the EU; reinforcing technology capabilities to locate and track space vehicles and debris; establish an adequate regulatory and legal framework; and create international associations related to space traffic management.
These initiatives will use the European EUSST program as a starting point, where the CDTI (which operates under the wing of the Ministry of Science and Innovation) acts as a coordinator in this space surveillance project and with the involvement of the most important European space agencies where Spain has a share of over 20%, the highest in the history of our country for such an important international space project.
In relation to this subject, during her talk, Morant conveyed Spain’s commitment to continue strengthening research and technological development to offer detection and control capabilities and, when necessary, the elimination of objects that interfere with the legitimate use of space. “As part of the framework, we believe that an agreement needs to be entered into that establishes regulations governing the deployment of objects in space, and their elimination once their service life has come to an end,” the minister stated, adding that, in the middle term, this regulation must be discussed internationally specifically within the framework of the United Nations.
The European Union has also presented this week a regulatory proposal for a secure space connectivity. This proposal aims to develop an autonomous space connectivity system for the provision of guaranteed and resilient satellite communications, especially with the purpose of guaranteeing government users the long-term worldwide availability of reliable, secure and cost-effective satellite communication services.
During the meeting, the ‘Space for a Green Future Accelerator’ initiative was also discussed a program to help Europe act to mitigate global warming by leveraging space data.
