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l Catalan Executive has approved this Tuesday a strategy to boost the new space economy, which is expected to generate 1,200 jobs and a turnover of 280 million euros by 2025. Specifically, the Catalonia New Space Strategy foresees the sending of two nanosatellites into space, scheduled for the first half of 2021.
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The project, with a budget of 2.5 million euros, will be responsible for the definition, design, construction and launch of the two nanosatellites, which will allow the deployment and validation of experimental applications and services for global Internet of Things connectivity and for image processing and Earth observation remote sensing. In addition, the Generalitat will be able to have coverage in areas of the territory that it does not currently control and, at the same time, obtain images of the Earth from space in different spectral bands, which will serve to develop new technological solutions that allow improving the services of the Catalan administration and of different productive sectors.
The strategy is designed to ensure that Catalonia carves out a place for itself in the field of nanosatellites. For this reason, a Catalan Space Agency will be created, the administrative structure that will manage and deploy the application of policies and actions in the field of this new economy. In total, the Catalonia New Space Strategy has a budget of 18 million euros for the period 2020-2023 and is co-financed by FEDER funds. Led by the Department of Digital Policies, it also has the collaboration of the Department of Business and Knowledge and the Department of Territory and Sustainability.
A new economic sector with high added value
The Government defends that this space economy will boost "a new economic sector with high added value that generates opportunities, economic growth and employment." And it will do so through the use of smaller, lower-cost satellites that orbit at low altitude. This opens a window of opportunity "thanks to the democratization of space, until now reserved for the great powers of the aerospace industry."
Technological development, a sharp reduction in costs, and a paradigm shift in the way space missions are developed have allowed the disappearance of entry barriers in this market, making it possible today to offer new services based on satellites, their data, and the use of space by different sectors. With enormous growth potential, the Generalitat expects this new economy to create and develop a new market and a new technological fabric, with a "catalytic effect" on other digital technologies, such as 3D printing, artificial intelligence, advanced electronics for sensors and computers, and new-generation mobile communications.
The executive emphasizes that Catalonia already operates in this sector with nearly 30 emerging companies, such as OpenCosmos, Sateliot, Pangea, and Zero2Infinity. It also has 13 leading research and innovation centers such as the UPC NanoSat Lab, the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), the i2CAT foundation, and the Telecommunications Technology Center of Catalonia (CTTC), in addition to one of the European Space Agency's business incubation centers, ESA BIC Barcelona, located in the Mediterranean Technology Park in Castelldefels.