Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Aug 27, 2025

Europe's space sector seeks to boost commercialisation

Europe's space sector seeks to boost commercialisation

As Europe's space leaders meet virtually in Brussels at the new European Space Forum, Euronews explores how the sector is making a big push to become more business-minded.

“Supporting startups is a huge priority” for the European Space Agency (ESA), according to its Director General Josef Aschbacher, as the agency seeks to compete in an increasingly crowded and dynamic sector where Europe has been accused of lagging behind.

Speaking to Euronews, Aschbacher explained how ESA has created a new directorate for commercialisation, industrial policy and procurement, headed by space strategy specialist Géraldine Naja.

The goal is to make Europe fertile ground for what is termed 'New Space' operators, a catch-all phrase for companies taking advantage of existing and emerging space technologies to build wholly commercial businesses.

For Aschbacher, there is no time to lose, as he sees the commercial space sector in the United States taking the lead in launch services, but also areas which are traditionally strong for Europe, such as Earth observation.

He says a priority for his tenure is to “encourage people to take more risks, be faster in implementing projects, and to help them both through faster action on the side of ESA”.

Although the move is welcomed by the space sector, Olivier Lemaitre, Secretary General of industry body ASD-Eurospace, warns that we're not going to see a 'European SpaceX' anytime soon.

Space budgets in Europe are fragmented across countries and six times smaller than in the US, he tells Euronews. "Some public powers forget this reality, thinking we can do as well as the USA with six times less money," he says.

The pro-business messages from ESA come as the European Commission's own space operation, called the European Union Agency for the Space Programme, begins to spread its wings.

The recently-created EUSPA is tasked with maximising the benefits of the European Commission-funded space projects such as the Galileo navigation system, the Copernicus earth observation network, and the EGNOS positioning and navigation tool.

These two organisations, ESA, and EUSPA, both say they are focused on encouraging a 'globally competitive' European space sector. Which begs the question - do we actually really need both of them in parallel?

"It's a good question," replies Aschbacher, "But today they are working certainly in a very complex and complementary manner". He stresses that the role of ESA is to develop the technical side of new satellite technologies and launchers, while the European Commission has the political clout to get big projects like Galileo off the ground.

What remains an open question however, is whether Europe, with ESA and EUSPA, can create the kind of innovative and flexible environment that can foster the emergence of major new commercial players.

What's the future for Coperncius?


Another key topic of debate at the European Space Forum will be the future of Copernicus. Established in 2014, 'Copernicus provides Europe with a continuous, independent and reliable access to satellite Earth Observation data and information.

Simonetta Cheli, soon to become director of Earth Observation at ESA, sings the praises of this constellation of satellites, telling Euronews: "We have eight satellites working flawlessly, we have 400,000 users registered and 250 terabytes of data are downloaded every day."

However she admits that the programme is facing funding difficulties as a result of “high level political considerations” related to Brexit (the UK is an active ESA member, but no longer in the EU), with a €750 million shortfall in funding that she is confident will be overcome soon. Lemaitre from ASD-Eurospace also believes that the financing issue can be overcome. "We need to see goodwill on both sides and if we give each other enough time then it could move forwards," he says.

A Copernicus image shows lava flowing from a volcano on La Palma in September this year


Looking ahead, Cheli explains that the Copernicus programme will be focused on issues such as Arctic monitoring and CO2 emissions observations, both crucial in a post-COP26 political environment.

However private companies are competing with Copernicus in high-resolution Earth imaging, and Cheli says that current thinking inside ESA suggests that finding ways to integrate these commercial initiatives into the Copernicus systems in a mutually-beneficial way is one of the favoured ways forward.

Lemaitre again flags a tendency to over-spin the business potential of Copernicus, which he says was initially designed to offer high quality data to public bodies and scientific institutions.

He believes there is strong economic potential in the Earth observation field, but that barriers exist to access the data and there is a need for powerful AI and high performance computing technologies to take best advantage of the information gathered by the Copernicus Sentinel satellite fleet.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
Labour set to freeze income tax thresholds in long-term 'stealth' tax raid
Coca‑Cola explores sale of Costa coffee chain
Trial hears dog walker was chased and fatally stabbed by trio
Restaurateur resigns from government hospitality council over tax criticism
Spanish City funfair shut after serious ride injury
Suspected arson at Ilford restaurant leaves three in critical condition
Tottenham beat Manchester City to go top of Premier League
Bank holiday heatwave to hit 30°C before remnants of Hurricane Erin arrive
UK to deploy immigration advisers to West Africa to block fake visas
Nurse who raped woman continued working for a year despite police alert
Drought forces closures of England’s canal routes, canceling boat holidays
Sweet tooth scents: food-inspired perfumes surge as weight-loss drugs suppress appetites
Experts warn Britain dangerously reliant on imported food
Family of Notting Hill Carnival murder victim call event unmanageable
Bunkers, Billions and Apocalypse: The Secret Compounds of Zuckerberg and the Tech Giants
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
×