The aeronautical engineer Juan Carlos Cortés (Madrid, 58 years old) is the first director of the new Spanish Space Agency. This body aims to give “a single voice” to all the Government’s civil and military space powers, until now spread across more than ten ministries. Spain was one of the few European countries that had not yet created an organization of this type, despite the fact that companies and many experts have been calling for it for years.
Cortés is the fourth child of two humble parents who lived through the Civil War and instilled in him a culture of effort. They all ended up going to university. At the age of 17, Cortés was already a pilot of motorless airplanes, although he confesses that more than flying, what he is passionate about is solving the technical problems that come with it. To that he has dedicated his more than 30 years of career as a manager of research and development projects in the main public organizations in the field in Spain.
Cortés receives EL PAÍS at the agency’s new headquarters in Seville, a large office building owned by the Seville city council, a few steps from the island of La Cartuja, where there are still few people and boxes to be unpacked. So far, he assures, the agency has filled 70% of the 64 jobs it will have. In this interview, Cortés lists the challenges that he will face during his five years in office, among them the first space law in our country, which aims to organize an increasingly chaotic and polarized sector.
Ask. What does space mean to you?
Answer. Right now the entire planet is discovered, there are no new territories left. Space is our new frontier. It is important because it responds to the global challenges of humanity. It is planetary protection against asteroids that could destroy us completely. It also helps us face global challenges, natural disasters such as a mega volcanic eruption or a large solar storm. These solutions are only possible with space systems. And beyond Earth’s orbit there is space exploration, everything that has to do with the Moon, where we will have a base in a very short time. The exploration of Mars, understanding the fossil radiation of the universe, the origin of life. Study how matter has been transformed into a form of consciousness that studies matter. It is exciting.
Q. What role does Spain play in all this with the agency?
R. Having a single voice allows us to maximize the benefits of our investment and be the single interlocutor with our partners, NASA, Japan, China. It also allows us to develop a policy, a strategy and a space law. In addition, within the agency there is a coordination committee with the autonomous communities. We want to be ambitious. The mission that India launched to the Moon cost 70 million dollars. That is acceptable for Spain.
Q. What can we stand out for?
R. We are one of the few countries capable of making a satellite from the beginning to operation, and soon flying it with a Spanish launcher. There must be 10 countries in the world capable of this. We have Spainsat NG, one of the most advanced telecommunications satellites in the world. The objective is to become strong in that niche of leading missions, of moving up the value chain.
Q. Do we have any shortcomings?
R. We are the fourth space power in Europe. Due to the investment that space demands, most programs are carried out in cooperation. For example, we lead the Arrakhis mission, because it is in the order of 400 million euros. However, doing a mission like BepiColombo, which goes to Mercury, is almost 2,000 million. We have no capacity, neither we, nor France, nor Germany. Large companies in the United States are three times as large as European companies. It is a problem for Europe. We need a process of industrial consolidation now if we want to maintain our role as a global power.
Q. Will the agency provide funds for it?
R. We are a management agency [de fondos], not execution. What we will do is set the boundary conditions for the sector to develop, but the decision to consolidate is an industrial decision.
Q. What own, national projects would you highlight?
R. We are going to have a quantum communication satellite. The communication network has a refreshment every 100 kilometers, which is a weak point. Distributing quantum keys from a satellite is an absolutely robust system. The project is to launch two demonstrators, one in low orbit and the other in geostationary orbit. It involves launching photons from 36,000 kilometers and collecting them, a challenge that is at the limit of what is possible. We have dedicated 125 million and we hope to have the first demonstrator ready in 2025. Within the future programs we are already preparing the ministerial conference of the European Space Agency (ESA) at the end of 2025. A multiannual budget of about 25 billion euros will be debated, when the previous one was 17,000. Spain would put in 1,500 million. It is going to be proposed at the political level that Europe have a launcher for manned flights. We have our own astronaut corps, but we still depend on the United States, China or companies.
Q. Are you concerned that space has been divided into two blocks, especially since the war in Ukraine?
R. Due to the war in Europe we have very serious problems due to the lack of components, beryllium, titanium. The new geopolitical order is going to play out in space. There is not going to be a new cold war, but clearly there are two blocs. We are in the Western bloc and opposite us we have Russia and China. At the end of the year a Chinese delegation visited us and what they do is impressive. The next scenario is not going to the Moon, that is already overcome, it is living on the Moon, establishing colonies there. It is such a hostile environment that even if the missions are separate, the world as a whole will collaborate.
Q. Is there a legal loophole in space?
R. Yes, and it worries us a lot. 13,000 satellites have already been launched; 6,000 in the last five years. The space is saturated and must be regulated. Right now Elon Musk is launching a barrage of satellites and astronomers are complaining because they ruin the sky and the stars cannot be seen. But it’s not just Starlink, it’s that now comes Kuiper, Jeff Bezos’ constellation, and then China’s and then Europe’s. This is not going to stop. We have to take the reins, because the space belongs to everyone. The Agency’s statute already says that we have to make a space law in Spain. On the other hand, Europe is already doing its thing.
Q. When will the law be ready?
R. It is a complex topic. The Ministry of Science is leading the project. It is possible that it could be ready next year.
Q. With these laws will we be able to stop Elon Musk or similar projects?
R. It’s going to be rationalized. In the case you mention it is very simple: change its color or materials so that they do not reflect light, which solves the problem. Right now it is not done because it is cheaper. It will also be prohibited to launch a satellite and for it to remain inert after its useful life. It will have to carry a reserve of fuel so that it descends and burns upon re-entry into the atmosphere.
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