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EU Space Week 2023 welcomed over 3,000 visitors and presenters who joined either in person or virtually from home to discuss everything from using space technology to become the first climate-neutral continent to leveraging satellite services to shield Europe’s security and autonomy.   

Needless to say, it was a very busy week, with far too much happening to summarise in a single article. So, instead, here are just some of the highlights that we took away from three big days in Seville.  

1. Big expectations 

Europe expects big things from the EU Space Programme. According to speakers from the European Commission, EUSPA, the Spanish Space Agency and the European Space Agency (ESA), the space sector is undergoing a massive transformation. To stay competitive, EU Space must adapt to ensure that the EU Space Programme and its various components evolve to continue delivering state-of-the-art space-based services that answer actual user needs. The User Consultation Platforms, dedicated to gather the user needs, are one of the essential means to this end. 

2. A big rocket

Staying competitive also means developing innovative launchers capable of meeting the New Space sector’s demand for advanced payloads. One such launcher is the MIURA 1, a 13-metre-tall rocket designed by European New Space company PLD Space. The suborbital launch vehicle is the first space system capable of carrying payloads into space and then bringing them safely back to Earth.

The MIURA 1 was on display during EU Space Week as part of the annual Demo Day.

3. Big opportunities 

But it’s not just the launchers that are big – New Space itself represents a very big opportunity for European companies. According to some estimates, the New Space economy will hit the USD 1 trillion mark by 2040!

Thanks to such EUSPA-supported funding opportunities as the CASSINI Business Accelerator, CASSINI Challenges and Horizon Europe, European start-ups are already claiming a piece of this lucrative market. For example, Vyoma is developing in-orbit telescopes that, by observing potentially dangerous space objects and debris, will help protect satellites and other New Space assets from being damaged. The CASSINI Prize for digital space applications is another example of how the Entrepreneurship funding scheme of the European Union can be so powerful for companies. 

4. A big impact

Another area where space is having a big impact is climate change and helping the EU achieve its sustainability-related objectives – including the transition to renewable energy. For instance, the energy sector is using Copernicus data to make informed decisions on where to build such critical infrastructure as solar panels, wind turbines and tidal power generation plants.

EGNSS such as Galileo and EGNOS also has a big role to play in the fight against climate change. For instance, the aviation sector is turning to EGNOS to help reduce emissions. According to EUSPA, an EGNOS-based approach at Almeria airport in Spain has helped reduce aircraft emissions by 38%. 

5. A bigger EU Space Programme

EU Space is also set to play a big part in Europe’s safety and security. This means keeping Europe’s space assets secure – a role that is a core part of EUSPA’s mission and safe. 

But it also means using EU Space to provide security-related services, which is why the EU Space Programme is about to get bigger. 

GOVSATCOM and IRIS² are the latest additions to the EU Space family. The former aims to provide secure and cost-efficient communications capabilities to security and safety critical missions and operations while the latter looks to offer secure, reliable and cost-effective satellite communication services for authorised government users and to facilitate commercial services. In this context, EUSPA produced the first-ever Secure SATCOM Market and User Technology Report to help relevant public and private actors identify business opportunities, set the basis for developing the market, and enable the realization of benefits from satellite communications.

Want to see more highlights from EUSW23? Be sure to check out our X (i.e., Twitter) feed. 

See you soon for the next edition of the EU Space Week!

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the EUSPA website (http://www.euspa.europa.eu).

In a joint effort, EUSPA and the European Commission will host an interactive workshop dedicated to the upcoming Galileo Timing Service and its implications for Timing and Synchronisation (T&S) applications.

The availability of accurate and secure timing information is crucial for a range of strategic activities. This is especially the case for critical infrastructures, like telecommunication networks, energy distribution grids, financial markets and commercial aviation systems and networks. All of these benefit from the timing and positioning information provided by Galileo.

As timing and synchronization become increasingly indispensable in our lives, EUSPA and the EC are bringing together key stakeholders in T&S, including users and receiver manufacturers. This effort aims to facilitate discussions on user needs and requirements for the future Galileo Timing Service.

An online workshop on the Standardisation of Timing Receivers will take place on 2 February 2024. The primary objective of the workshop is to validate hypotheses adopted in the development of the Galileo Timing Service. Additionally, EUSPA and the European Commission will present the upcoming Galileo Timing Receiver Standard and the activities conducted within the STARLITE Project and the CEN/CENELEC/JTC5 Working Group 9. 

You can join the workshop by following this link. 

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the EUSPA website (http://www.euspa.europa.eu).

In a joint effort, EUSPA and the European Commission will host an interactive workshop dedicated to the standardisation of timing receivers and the upcoming Galileo Timing Service with its implications for Timing and Synchronisation (T&S) applications.

The availability of accurate and secure timing information is crucial for a range of strategic activities. This is especially the case for critical infrastructures, like telecommunication networks, energy distribution grids, financial markets and commercial aviation systems and networks. All of these benefit from the timing and positioning information provided by Galileo.

As timing and synchronization become increasingly indispensable in our lives, EUSPA and the EC are bringing together key stakeholders in T&S, including users and receiver manufacturers. This effort aims to facilitate discussions on standardisation of timing receivers on user needs and requirements for the future Galileo Timing Service.

An online workshop on the Standardisation of Timing Receivers will take place on 2 February 2024. EUSPA and the European Commission will present the upcoming Galileo Timing Receiver Standard and the activities conducted within the STARLITE Project and the CEN/CENELEC/JTC5 Working Group 9, Additionally, another important objective of the workshop is to validate hypotheses adopted in the development of the Galileo Timing Service.  

You can join the workshop by following this link. 

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the EUSPA website (http://www.euspa.europa.eu).

The availability of accurate and secure timing information is crucial for a range of strategic sectors. This is especially the case for critical infrastructures, like telecommunication networks, energy distribution grids, financial markets. All of these will benefit from the future Galileo Timing Service.

In a joint effort, EUSPA and the European Commission will host  a workshop dedicated present the ongoing standardisation activities for timing receivers, aimed at the publication of the first ever Standard in 2024, a key component of the upcoming Galileo Timing Service. The workshop will provide a great opportunity for discussing with Stakeholders on the benefits for Timing and Synchronisation (T&S) applications, and on the user needs of the Timing community.

The workshop will be hybrid, taking place online and at EUSPA HQ. More information will be available soon. 

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the EUSPA website (http://www.euspa.europa.eu).

The availability of accurate and secure timing information is crucial for a range of strategic sectors. This is especially the case for critical infrastructures, like telecommunication networks, energy distribution grids, financial markets. All of these will benefit from the future Galileo Timing Service.

In a joint effort, EUSPA and the European Commission will host  a workshop dedicated present the ongoing standardisation activities for timing receivers, aimed at the publication of the first ever Standard in 2024, a key component of the upcoming Galileo Timing Service. The workshop will provide a great opportunity for discussing with Stakeholders on the benefits for Timing and Synchronisation (T&S) applications, and on the user needs of the Timing community.

The workshop will be hybrid, taking place online and at EUSPA HQ. You can participate online here. 

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the EUSPA website (http://www.euspa.europa.eu).

More than plenaries, panel discussions and keynote addresses, EU Space Week is also a chance to showcase some of the latest innovations that leverage the power of EU Space. 

The Demo Day is usually an exciting opportunity for visitors to get a first-hand look at an array of applications using data from Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus.    

This year’s lineup of demos did not disappoint.

Funding innovation

Through such funding mechanisms as Horizon Europe, Fundamental Elements and dedicated calls to Accelerate Adoption in Transport, along with a range of competitions and awards, EUSPA actively supports projects and initiatives developing innovative European products and applications based on the EU Space Programme. 

One such project is IWETT. 

With the goal of supporting the adoption of EGNOS in the inland waterway transport sector, this project is integrating EGNOS within River Information Services across Europe, including on the Danube River in Hungary, the Spree-Oder Waterway in Germany and the Guadalquivir River in Spain.

Two other EUSPA supported projects featured at EU Space Week were TRENI and DEGREE led by QUASCOM. The former is using data from EGNOS and signals from Galileo and other constellations to develop a GNSS receiver platform capable of providing a robust positioning and navigation solution for railways. QUASCOM, on the other hand, is working on Galileo-enabled GNSS receivers that can be used in drones, trains and space applications. 

GEODESY, a EUSPA-funded drone navigation solution based on a Galileo multi-constellation and multi-frequency receiver, leveraging the Galileo OS-NMA and HAS differentiators was also on hand.

Showcasing solutions 

Other companies, agencies, organisations and initiatives were in Sevilla to showcase their latest applications. These included e-GEOS, a leading international player in the Earth Observation and geo-spatial information business, who demonstrated an application for generating flood maps based on Copernicus data and services. 

Speaking of Copernicus, Mercator Ocean showed off the MyOcean Viewer, an online interactive tool that allows users to view oceanographic data coming from Copernicus and featuring such variables as temperature, salinity and sea level for any region in the world. The organisation, which delivers the Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS), also brought its immersive virtual reality experience that uses Earth Observation data to help users better understand the interaction between the ocean and the climate.  

The European Environment Agency (EEA), the EU’s agency delivering knowledge and data to support Europe's environment and climate goals, showed how the European Ground Motion Service (EGMS) uses Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) data derived from Copernicus Sentinel-1 to detect and measure ground movements with millimetre precision.

The Agency also discussed how the pan-European CORINE Land Cover inventory serves a multitude of use cases, including environmental monitoring, land use planning, climate change assessments and emergency management.

Both EEA applications are part of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS).

Other Copernicus-related solutions featured during Demo Day included the Copernicus Health Hub, Copernicus Arctic Hub, Copernicus Energy Hub and Copernicus Coastal Hub.  

A BIG impact

While all these applications created a substantial amount of buzz and excitement, Demo Day was dominated by the MIURA 1. And we don’t mean that figuratively. At a whopping 13 metres tall, it was hard to miss this rocket!

Designed by PLD Space, a European New Space company, the suborbital MIURA 1 launch vehicle is the first space system capable of carrying payloads into space and then bringing them safely back to Earth.

“Regardless of their size, the projects, applications and solutions featured at Demo Day will all have a very big impact on Europe’s space industry and European society,” says da Costa.

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the EUSPA website (http://www.euspa.europa.eu).