On the 2nd of September, Europe’s spaceport successfully launched their first of 50 satellite into orbit.
Arianespace, a commercial space transportation company, has partnered with the European Space Agency (ESA) to launch the UPMSat-2 microsatellite aboard the Vega VV16 carrier rocket. The lift-off took place in Kourou (French Guiana) at 10:51 p.m. local time. This is the first of 50 launches in the In-Orbits Demonstration and Validation (IOD/IOV) experiments, which the European Commission (EC) called for in the Horizon 2020 programmes. The OID/OIV experiments aim to offer access to space to test new technologies in orbit. As Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market, reported: “IOD/IOV enables the space research community to develop space technologies and test them under real conditions. It supports technology maturity, reduces time to market and guarantees Europe’s continued independent access to space. Such collaboration spurs European innovation”. With competition in the space sector further increasing, this launch is also important for Europe to compete globally.
The carrier rocket, Vega VV16, has returned safely and is now back to normal operations at the spaceport in Kourou. Vega will be carrying satellites in two more missions this year for which the next one is scheduled on the 16th October.
In order to boost the European space industry’s competitiveness and innovation capacity, the EC has proposed a new Space Programme of the Union and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme. These will bring existing infrastructure together with new features. The system of governance is led by the EC, who as programme manager will set priorities and operational decisions. ESA remains an important main partner in the programme implementation, in particular concerning Copernicus, design and development tasks regarding Galileo, and upstream research activities in its fields of expertise. The (new) EU Agency for the Space Programme will support market uptake and security accreditation. The autonomy of action of ESA is circumscribed: all delegation of tasks other than those explicitly enumerated in the regulation will be subject to assessment by the EC.
At this stage, the EU Council and the European Parliament have arrived at a partial agreement on the legislative proposal of the EC. Outstanding issues relate to the budget, the protection of security interests, ownership and licence rights, and the participation of third countries and international organisations.
A further proposed co-programmed European Partnership under Horizon Europe for “Global competitive Space Systems” will also play a central role in “reinforcing Europe’s autonomy in accessing and using space in a secure and safe environment”. In other words, the access to space is for the EU a “political imperative” and must be “independent, reliable and cost-efficient” to ensure and maintain EU’s autonomy.