Spain’s Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities has published a €70 million call to support the development and maturation of disruption space technology.
The Space Technology Programe (PTE) 2024 call was published on 18 May and aims to provide €70 million in funding to projects that fall within two thematic areas: New Space: Satellite Constellations and Bottom-up Space Technology Maturation.
The PTE 2024 call will be funded under the country’s Strategic Projects for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) Aerospace programme. The programme aims to mobilize more than €4.5 billion between 2021 and 2025 to fund projects that will position Spain as a world leader in the aerospace industry.
Project proposals for the New Space: Satellite Constellations theme will be focused on the development of new products, processes, or services that significantly improve the mass production capabilities of space systems at the subsystem or payload levels. Projects under the Bottom-up Space Technology Maturation theme will need to mature space technologies with the potential of being market disruptors, or that will fulfill a significant commercial demand.
According to the call, €40 million of the total allocation will be utilized for projects falling under the Bottom-Up Space Technology Maturation theme, with €16 million of that being reserved for projects from small businesses. The remaining €30 million will be utilized to fund projects falling under the New Space: Satellite Constellations theme. The call also makes it clear that projects that are financed or could in the future be financed by the European Space Agency will not be eligible for funding through this initiative.
Spain’s Center for Industrial Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI) and the Spanish Space Agency will jointly manage the PTE 2024 initiative. Under the initiative’s terms, work on the selected projects must commence in 2024 and be completed by 31 December 2026.
Spain is bullish about space
On 16 May, Spain’s Minister of Science, Innovation, and Universities, Diana Morant, held her first working meeting with the Spanish Space Agency’s new director, Juan Carlos Cortés. Following the meeting, Morant explained that Spain’s space sector was key to the country’s economic growth.
“The Spanish space sector is contributing to consolidating the economic growth of our country,” said Morant. “For every euro we invest in the space sector, we generate up to 4 euros for our country’s economy.”
