Spain has signed an agreement with the European Space Agency for the contracting and technical management of the country’s Constelación Atlántica (Atlantic Constellation).
The agreement was announced by the Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, during the fourth meeting of the PERTE Alliance for Aerospace. The alliance brings together representatives from different ministerial departments and influential actors in Spanish industry to create strategies to boost the country’s aerospace sector.
With a focus on monitoring the effects of climate change, the Atlantic Constellation will be made up of 16 small Earth observation satellites. Eight of the satellites will be developed in Spain and eight in Portugal. The constellation will complement the European Copernicus system. Spain and Portugal will contribute €40 million each to realize the project.
“The agreement that we have reached with ESA for the development of the Atlantic Constellation of satellites is an example of this Government’s commitment to new tools that help safeguard people’s lives in the face of the phenomena caused by climate change,” explained Minister Morant in a Twitter post.
Once operational, the constellation will provide observations every three hours, which, according to a press release, “will be essential to support the mitigation of natural disasters.”
In addition to the announcement regarding the Atlantic Constellation, Minister Morant also revealed that the public contribution to the PERTE programme would increase from €2.2 billion to €2.71 billion.
The additional funds will, in part, be utilized to finance the Space Technology Plan, which the country hopes to use for projects that position Spain at the forefront of key space technology niches. The Space Technology Plan will be financed with €70 million of the additional funds.
