Plans for the Spanish Space Agency, or <\/span>Agencia Espacial Espa\u00f1ola (AEE), were first announced in May 2021, and finally got the political thumbs up last month.<\/span><\/p>\n The agency will be based in Seville, near the Arenosillo launch facility in Huelva, which was built in the 60s as part of a collaboration between the Spanish government and NASA. Initially, around 75 personnel will be based at the site.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The agency will serve to \u201cguarantee Spain\u2019s strategic action in the field of space, both from the point of view of its technological development and the use of space in areas such as security, Earth observation, geolocation, and telecommunications,\u201d according to a<\/span> statement<\/span><\/a> from Spain\u2019s Ministry of Science<\/a> and Innovation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSpace is a priority and strategic area, essential to help and protect our society in fields as diverse as cybersecurity, navigation, the fight against climate change, or the monitoring of phenomena such as drought or fires,\u201d the statement continued.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n M<\/span>inister for Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, has allocated the new agency an initial budget of more than <\/span>\u20ac700m<\/span> in 2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The minister has also made <\/span>\u20ac<\/span>45m available to fund the development of a domestic microlauncher. This class of launch vehicle, Morant said, is \u201cthe commercial future of the space sector.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Currently, the most likely contender to receive the funding is <\/span>PLD Space<\/span><\/a>. Founded in 2011, <\/span>the Spanish startup has<\/span> developed a suborbital microlauncher<\/span>, named Miura 1, that will be capable of delivering commercial payloads to space and back. It is set to launch as early as this month.<\/span><\/p>\n Spain has a long history in the space industry. It is one of the founding members of the European Space Agency (ESA) and has a thriving spacetech ecosystem. As of 2019, 12% of the total 400+ <\/span>investors<\/span><\/a> in the global private space industry \u2014 dubbed \u2018new space\u2019 \u2014 were based in Spain.<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to frontrunners PLD Space, startups to watch include Barcelona-based<\/span> Zero 2 Infinity<\/span><\/a>, which has developed a <\/span>balloon-borne launcher, Madrid-based <\/span>ienai GO<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> a space industry software provider, and Bilbao-based <\/span>SATLANTIS<\/span><\/a>, which is developing <\/span>AI-enabled payloads for microsatellites.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The launch of the Spanish Space Agency is undoubtedly a major boost to these startups and the country\u2019s spacetech industry as a whole, and comes<\/span> as Europe looks to catch up with the US, Russia, and China in the global space race.\u00a0<\/span>\n <\/div>\n If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
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