European Union Space Programme

Components of the programme

Satellite systems

Galileo

The European Union has already started work on a project to create the Galileo positioning system, to break dependence on the United States GPS system. This is in cooperation with ESA as well as other countries.

EGNOS

The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) provides navigational assistance to aviation, maritime and land-based users over most of Europe. The system supplements data from GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo by monitoring and making corrections to their positioning data

Copernicus

Copernicus is a European system for monitoring the Earth and consists of earth observation satellites and in situ sensors. The program provides services in the thematic areas of land, marine, atmosphere, climate change, emergency management, and security

GOVSATCOM

The European Union Governmental Satellite Communications (GOVSATCOM) programme aims at providing secure and cost-efficient communications capabilities to security and safety critical missions and operations managed by the European Union and its Member States, including national security actors and EU Agencies and institutions.

IRIS²

IRIS² is planned third EU's satellite constellation (after Galileo and Copernicus) aimed mainly to enhanced communication services.

SSA

Space situational awareness (SSA) monitors and protects space assets by providing data on space hazards. It is crucial for the European economy and for EU citizens who rely on space-based capabilities in their daily lives (navigation, communication, etc.).

SSA covers three main areas:

• Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) of man-made objects.
• Space Weather (SWE) monitoring and forecast.
• Near-Earth Objects (NEO) monitoring (only natural space objects).

Other EU programmes involved in space research

Horizon Europe

The Horizon Europe programme is the source of funding for a variety of projects, such as:

• Monitoring agricultural sustainability with SIGMA and AGRICAB projects
• Analyzing the chemical composition of Earth's oceans: OOSS2015
• Supporting urban planners in the coordination of city resources: DECUMANUS

EU/ESA Space Council

The Flag of Europe is flown in space during missions of the European Space Agency. It was flown by ESA's Andre Kuipers during Delta mission.

The political perspective of the European Union (EU) was to make ESA an agency of the EU by 2014; however, this date was not met. The EU member states provide most of ESA's funding, and they are all either full ESA members or observers.

ESA is not an agency or body of the European Union, and has non-EU countries (Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) as members. There are however ties between the two, with various agreements in place and being worked on, to define the legal status of ESA with regard to the EU.

There are common goals between ESA and the EU. ESA has an EU liaison office in Brussels. On certain projects, the EU and ESA co-operate, such as the Galileo satellite navigation system. Space policy has since December 2009 been an area for voting in the European Council. Under the European Space Policy, later implemented as the European Union Space Programme, the EU, ESA and its Member States committed themselves to increasing co-ordination of their activities and programmes and to organising their respective roles relating to space.

The Lisbon Treaty of 2009 reinforces the case for space in Europe and strengthens the role of ESA as an R&D space agency. Article 189 of the Treaty gives the EU a mandate to elaborate a European space policy and take related measures, and provides that the EU should establish appropriate relations with ESA.

Former Italian astronaut Umberto Guidoni, during his tenure as a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009, stressed the importance of the European Union as a driving force for space exploration, "since other players are coming up such as India and China it is becoming ever more important that Europeans can have an independent access to space. We have to invest more into space research and technology in order to have an industry capable of competing with other international players."

The first EU-ESA International Conference on Human Space Exploration took place in Prague on 22 and 23 October 2009. A road map which would lead to a common vision and strategic planning in the area of space exploration was discussed. Ministers from all 29 EU and ESA members as well as members of parliament were in attendance.

The European Commission is increasingly working together towards common objectives. Some 20 per cent of the funds managed by ESA now originate from the supranational budget of the European Union. In recent years the ties between ESA and the European institutions have been reinforced by the increasing role that space plays in supporting the EU's social, political and economic policies.

The legal basis for the EU/ESA co-operation is provided by a Framework Agreement which entered into force in May 2004. According to this agreement, the European Commission and ESA co-ordinate their actions through the Joint Secretariat, a small team of EC's administrators and ESA executive. The Member States of the two organisations meet at ministerial level in the Space Council, which is a concomitant meeting of the EU and ESA Councils, prepared by Member States representatives in the High-level Space Policy Group (HSPG).

ESA maintains a liaison office in Brussels to facilitate relations with the European institutions.

Guaranteeing European access to space

In May 2007, the 29 European countries expressed their support for the European Space Policy in a resolution of the Space Council, unifying the approach of ESA with those of the European Union and their member states.

Prepared jointly by the European Commission and ESA's Director General, the European Space Policy sets out a basic vision and strategy for the space sector and addresses issues such as security and defence, access to space and exploration.

Through this resolution, the EU, ESA and their Member States all commit to increasing co-ordination of their activities and programmes and their respective roles relating to space.

ESA is partnered with the EU on its two current flagship space programs, the Copernicus series of Earth observation satellites and the Galileo satellite navigation system, with ESA providing technical oversight and, in the case of Copernicus, some of the funding. The EU, though, has shown an interest in expanding into new areas, whence the proposal to rename and expand its satellite navigation agency (the European GNSS Agency) into the EU Agency for the Space Programme. The proposal drew strong criticism from ESA, as it is perceived as encroaching on ESA's turf.

In January 2021, after years of acrimonious relations, EU and ESA officials mended their relationship, with the EU Internal Market commissioner Thierry Breton saying "The European space policy will continue to rely on ESA and its unique technical, engineering and science expertise," and that "ESA will continue to be the European agency for space matters. If we are to be successful in our European strategy for space, and we will be, I will need ESA by my side." ESA director Aschbacher reciprocated, saying "I would really like to make ESA the main agency, the go-to agency of the European Commission for all its flagship programs." ESA and EUSPA are now seen to have distinct roles and competencies, which will be officialized in the Financial Framework Partnership Agreement (FFPA). Whereas ESA will focus will be on the technical elements of the EU space programs, EUSPA will handle the operational elements of those programs.

Implications of UK leaving the EU

Although the United Kingdom has left the European Union, it still continues its membership in the European Space Agency. Since members of the European Space Agency contribute funding based on percentage of GDP, the United Kingdom is one of the larger members of the Space Agency and provides a significant amount of funding.