EU agrees €16 billion for Galileo and Copernicus satellites

The European Parliament has approved an agreement on the EU Space Program for the upcoming budget period 2021-2027. This will make 16 billion euros available in those six years for, among other things, the Galileo project and the Copernicus Earth observation satellites.

Elżbieta Bieńkowska, the EU Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, says on Twitter that the EU space program brings us one step closer to a situation of continuity, facilitating further investments in key space technologies and guaranteeing the EU’s autonomous access to space. According to her, it ensures the financial stability of EU activities in space.

According to Bieńkowska, the program is important to address global challenges, such as climate change, a transition to a low-carbon economy, smart mobility and a digital economy. In concrete terms, this concerns satellite navigation via the Galileo project and the already operational European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service. The latter is a system with transponders on three geostationary satellites, forty ground stations and four mission control centers that improve the precision of satellite positioning systems such as GPS and Galileo. In addition, money is being invested in the Copernicus earth observation satellites, which are used to analyze the earth and map certain environmental aspects.

The Commissioner reports that the space program now approved and proposed in June 2018 will also introduce new security-related space initiatives: Space and Situational Awareness and Governmental Satellite Communication. The former prevents collisions in space and also looks at objects such as asteroids entering the atmosphere. Governmental Satellite Communication provides secure satellite communications for Member States, supporting, among other things, police and diplomatic services. Finally, money is invested in start-ups and ‘cost-effective launch solutions’.