EU Space Policy

Latest news from the EU about European Space Policy.

Use of EU's space assets under auditor scrutiny

The EU Court of Auditors said Thursday it is examining how effectively the European Commission promotes the uptake of services provided by two of the EU's key space programmes, Copernicus and Galileo.

New EU Space Programme

For the next long-term EU budget 2021-2027, the Commission is proposing to devote EUR 16 billion to help maintain and further enhance the EU's leadership in space.

Proposal for a new EU space policy

The European Commission made a proposal for a new space policy on 26 October,with the aim of fostering new services and promoting Europe's leadership in space.

Space surveillance and tracking proposal

The European Commission has proposed measures to keep Europe's space industry competitive and to set up a European satellite collision avoidance system. While the EU is seen as a strong player in the global market for commercial launchers and telecommunication satellites and services, it faces increasing competition from emerging industrial actors in countries such as China and India - competition posing a challenge to the further development of the EU's industry. To address this issue, the Commission is proposing what it calls a new industrial policy for the European space sector, with a number of targets: to increase industry skill levels, to make finance and investment more readily available, to ensure the EU's independence in space and also to reshape the EU's legislative framework to make it a driver for industry - for example with legislation to promote the production and dissemination of data from satellites for commercial purposes. These initiatives will be complemented by a surveillance and tracking system to protect satellites from collisions in space. There are around 16,000 objects orbiting the Earth larger than 10 cm, a collision with any of whom would destroy a satellite. The proposed support programme would allow EU Member States that monitor satellites and space debris to pool their capacities and establish, for the first time, a European monitoring system.

GMES/Copernicus - European Earth Observation Programme

Copernicus is the new name of the European Commission’s Earth Observation Programme, previously known as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security). The new name was announced today by Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani during the Competitiveness Council. In a world facing an increased risk of natural and other disasters Copernicus aims to monitor the state of the environment on land, at sea and in the atmosphere and also to improve citizens' security. At the same time, Copernicus is a driver for economic growth and employment, with the potential to create up to 85 000 new jobs over the period 2015-2030, according to a recent study.

European Commission communication: Towards a space strategy for the European Union that benefits its citizens

Space policy is an instrument serving the EU's internal and external policies and responds to three types of needs: social, economic, and strategic. The space sector directly contributes to achieving the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy, namely smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Space policy thus forms an integral part of the "Industrial Policy" flagship initiative and the Strategy calls on the Commission to strive "to develop an effective space policy to provide the tools to address some of the key global challenges and in particular to deliver Galileo and GMES".

Galileo midterm review - guide

The European Commission presented its midterm review on the development of Europe’s satellite navigation programmes Galileo and EGNOS. Recent progress in the development of Galileo, including the signature of four major contracts and the testing of the first four operational satellites, means that the satellite navigation system will deliver initial services in 2014.

EGNOS, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service

The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is a satellite-based augmentation system that improves the accuracy of satellite navigation signals over Europe. The accuracy of current GPS signals is improved from about ten metres to two metres. EGNOS is Europe’s first venture into satellite navigation.