Insights into the Future of European Space Programs
A Participant Review on EUSW 2023, Sevilla
The annual EU Space Week is a pivotal gathering for the EU Space community. This year the EU Space Week 2023 took place in Sevilla, the new home city of the new Spanish Space Agency (AEE, Agencia Espacial Espa?ola). This special three-day occasion, organized by the European Commission, EUSPA - EU Agency for the Space Programme, and the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council, featured several dynamic sessions, prestigious awards, and inspiring high-level speeches. Vincenzo D'Onofrio
From November 7 - 9, 2023, this event brought together a diverse range of stakeholders, from policymakers to entrepreneurs, all converging to discuss the current and future trends of the now five European space programmes: Galileo, Copernicus, EGNOS, GovSatCom and EU SST.
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SEF - The Skunk Works Propelling DLR GfR's Innovation Engine
DLR GfR is responsible for managing Europe′s biggest spacecraft constellation: the European Satellite Navigation System GALILEO from DLR GfR headquarter, the Galileo Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen (GCC-D). DLR GfR’s constellation operations services comprise the operation of the globally distributed Galileo infrastructure, both on-ground and in-orbit, throughout all mission phases, including 24/7 routine operations and maintenance.
Within DLR GfR, the System Engineering Force (SEF) can be defined as a type of "Skunk Works for GfR".?Consisting in a team of experienced Systems Engineers and Project Managers, SEF is the GfR engine of growth bringing in new projects and expanding company’s business.?To this end the SEF moves fast and effectively to capture opportunities being connected throughout the business and to the DLR institutes with the aim to bring together multi-disciplinary teams to assemble solutions quickly. Therefore, SEF has been tasked to master remarkable competencies in Systems Engineering and Project Management.?The main developed expertise span from requirements engineering, interface management, large and complex system analysis, solution design, risk management towards efficient services and satisfied customers, RAMS Engineering and Proposal support.
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SEF's Strategic Participation at EU Space Week: A Closer Look
The first day of the EU Space Week 2023 was dedicated to EUSPA user consultation sessions where EUSPA spoke at the users of the five EU Space programs data products. The goal was to interrogate the users about the quality of the services and to propose new technical requirements for improvements. DLR GfR actively sat in the space session where several applications for space users through synergies with GALILEO services were discussed.
A key session from SEF perspective was the user consultation panel on Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) which focused on the evolution of the EU SST capability and its services. Users were consulted on their views on a proposal of advanced services complementary to the existing EU SST services, which may be developed by the EU industry. The session concluded with a roundtable with spacecraft operators representing all orbital regimes: the DLR GfR successful experience as Galileo Service Operator during the first and one-of-a-kind collision avoidance maneuver for a GALILEO satellite was presented as proof of the valuable technical collaboration between DLR GfR mbH and EUSPA - EU Agency for the Space Programme by means of Spaceopal .
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European Space Resilience and A Glimpse into the Future of EU Space Programs
A highlight of the three-day EU Space Week was a presentation by the European Union space leaders.
Timo Pesonen (on behalf of DG DEFIS from the European Commission ) underlined that the space sector as one of the key enablers for an EU and Europe to become more green, digital, and resilient. He stated that to maintain its leadership in the field of space, the European space sector is undergoing a massive transformation during very turbulent times where the need to re-think European space resilience, technological non-dependence, and business models is being addressed. To remain a global space power Europe needs a strong and dynamic EU space industry both upstream and downstream including SMEs and startups. To strength the resilience of the European space infrastructure IRIS-2 will establish the most secure satellite communication constellation for governmental uses and DLR GfR is getting ready for providing valuable contributions to respond to the future needs and challenges.
Josef Aschbacher (DG of European Space Agency - ESA ) inspired the audience with his vision on how space would be in 2035. Europe has woken up now and recognizes what is happening in space worldwide: the space economy is booming with a space economy worth about 470 billion US dollars expected to be 1 trillion in the next decade. Given the context, the goal for Europe (ESA and EC) will be to aim at 30% of the share thanks to the industry and partners working daily to create space projects. Additionally, he anticipated some of the outcome of the EU ministerial meeting held in Seville the day before: “Europe made watershed decisions, we have initiated a paradigm shift both on the launcher sector and exploration”. The next launchers will be based on competition where industry takes the initiative and the risk while ESA, EC and the other public institutions are anchor customers buying the services. In this service-oriented approach, the European space industry can develop products in the most efficient, innovative, and fast way.
Rodrigo da Costa (director of EUSPA - EU Agency for the Space Programme ) gave his future vision of the EU Space program. He underlined the fundamental importance of the user consultation platform as an occasion for the Agency to listen to the users and transform the potential needs into concrete requirements. The Galileo High Accuracy Service (HAS), the Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OSNMA) were mentioned as the new pioneering services paving the way towards high accuracy Precise Point Positioning (PPP) corrections and robust Position, Velocity and Time information (PVT) for the Galileo users. Additionally, the Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS) was presented as well as a “game changer” for governments and government authorised users and as a starting point for establishing a GOVSATCOM service and secured communication capabilities development through the IRIS2 program.
Key Takeaways: Shaping the Future of the European Space Industry
In essence, The EU Space Week underscored several fundamental principles that should remain at the forefront of the European space industry and precious takeaways for the DLR GfR SEF:
As I look ahead, I'm excited about the projects DLR GfR's System Engineering Department is gearing up for. The knowledge and insights gained at EU Space Week will be instrumental in shaping the path forward. We're not just envisioning the future; we're actively working on creating it.
In closing, I'd like to extend our gratitude to all parties involved in the organization of this remarkable event and to our dedicated team at DLR GfR for making our participation possible.
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