In a report published on Thursday 11 July, the European Commission found that the implementation of the EU space programme and the performance of the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) were good.
The programme, which has a budget of almost €15 billion, includes the EU’s flagship initiatives in navigation, positioning and timing (Galileo, EGNOS2), Earth observation (Copernicus) and new initiatives on space situational awareness (SSA) and governmental satellite communications (GOVSATCOM).
According to the Commission, the programme has achieved its objectives, attracting and retaining a growing number of users and extending access to new players. Additionally, it has met all the improvement criteria set out in regulation 2021/6961 for the period 2021-2027.
Galileo, “the most precise satellite navigation system in the world”, has successfully achieved its key objectives “worldwide long-term, state-of-the-art, and secure positioning, navigation, and timing services with minimal service disruptions” and “most targets were achieved and partially overachieved”.
Good progress has been made in implementing the EGNOS component. However, even though the performance of its service in terms of coverage is gradually improving, particularly in the aviation sector, the objective of providing EGNOS service over all the territories of the EU Member States in Europe has been delayed, according to the Commission.
With regard to GOVSATCOM, preparatory activities for the provision of services have been carried out effectively. For the three SSA subcomponents: the EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) services are “performing very well”, and the implementation processes for Space Weather (SWE) and Near-Earth Objects (NEO) are still ongoing.
All the indicators show that the performance of Copernicus services in terms of reliability, availability and continuity is on average higher than the target of 94.5%, just as the targets for the volume of data generated by the Sentinels have been exceeded, says the Commission, which points out the delays in the launch of Sentinel 1C13 due to the unavailability of European launchers.
The temporary absence of a European launcher solution is a “major factor” in delays and threatens the EU’s autonomy. In addition, improvements should be made to avoid unnecessary delays and additional costs in deploying and upgrading the infrastructure.
Moreover, if the number of users increases, further efforts can be made to encourage market and user uptake of EU space data, services and applications, according to the Commission.
Furthermore, “EUSPA has overall performed well and successfully achieved its objectives”; it has effectively carried out all its core and entrusted tasks, and strengthened its skills and capabilities.
However, the Commission believes that further efforts could be made to reduce the time to grant and improve transparency in the planning of tenders. It is also promoting improvements in the advisory board by integrating programmatic aspects into its decision-making process at an early stage.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/d12 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)