It has announced signing a dozen contracts with Spanish space industry organisations. And the country also signed up for the ESA’s Zero Debris Charter.
The Spanish space agency – the Agencia Espacial Española (AEE) – signed a new letter of intent with ESA during celebrations of the latter’s 50th anniversary. This was at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) near Madrid.
European resilience
“Spain is an extremely important and active Member State of ESA; they have shown excellent leadership in the Atlantic Constellation and they are a driving force of European Resilience from Space,” said ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher.
“ESAC is a focal point and an enabler of Spanish activities in ESA, and with this letter of intent, we investigate potential areas of further development at ESAC, based on evolving strategic priorities and emerging opportunities.”
For its part, Spain noted that its contribution to ESA has grown by 50% in the last seven years.
Spain’s Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, and President of the AEE, Diana Morant said:
“[ESA] is one of the clearest expressions of the common European project, demonstrating that scientific cooperation is also a tool for peace, prosperity and social cohesion. Thanks to its work, space has become a resource at the service of all people.”
Missions
Missions in the pipeline, for example, include ESA and the AEE collaborating on the CApTure Payload Bay (CAT) in-orbit demonstration. And Spain has increased its support for the Spanish Space Surveillance and Tracking (S3T) project for space debris detection.
One of the contract signings involved a consolidation study for the SIRIUS mission, contracting Thales Alenia Space España. This will use infrared imaging to help monitor urban heat islands and assess health risks related to heat.
Also a contract was signed with Airbus defence and Space Spain for the radiometer for the Sentinel-3 Next Generation Topography mission that has reached the final step before manufacture.
A further contract was signed with Open Cosmos for the implementation phase of the Spanish component of the Atlantic Constellation. The consortium, led by Open Cosmos, will be responsible for designing, integrating and manufacturing an initial batch of satellites.
Zero Debris Charter
As mentioned, as part of the initiative, the AEE signed the Zero Debris Charter. This is an ESA community initiative to advance space safety.
The Spanish agency joins 180 other signatories, including 20 national governments.
Image: ESA – Spain’s Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, and President of the Spanish space agency, the AEE, Diana Morant sits alongside ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher for the signing of a letter of intent.
See also: ESA establishes Europe’s first deep-space optical communication link
