Beyond the commitment to complete the Ariane 6the European launcher that has accumulated four years of delay and 350 million extra costs, and the Vega C, successor to the rocket that exploded eight minutes after takeoff in 2020, the last Seville summit between the European Space Agency (ESA) and EU representatives concluded with a fundamental turn: the change of course in the space exploration and exploitation strategies. ESA follows in the footsteps of its American counterpart (NASA) and will become a basic client of the industry, on which the greatest weight of future development beyond the atmosphere will fall. The first challenge of this new strategy will be to build a ship to create the first Amazon in space, a service with the capacity to carry and bring cargo. Three businessmen from New Spaceas the emerging sector in this field is known, respond in a joint interview to the new challenge and applaud the decision to end a policy that they describe as “doped entities.”
“The European space ecosystem has to be more dynamic, more profitable and provide more innovative solutions,” admits German Anna Christmann, coordinator of her country’s space policy and president of the Seville summit. This policy change involves converting the ESA into an “anchor client”, a stable service contractor with sufficient financial capacity, but not an entity responsible for the development of the entire exploration and exploitation process. And on this aspect there is agreement, according to the Austrian Josef Aschbacher, director general of ESA: “We have negotiated very hard with the 22 member states and we reached this consensus.” From now on, contracting will not be based on the contributions of each State to the ESA, but rather due to competition between companies.
![Participants in the informal summit of the European Space Agency and the EU held in Seville last Tuesday.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/T-03vd1lgRl7S67KAskyT_trL5s=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/CDLG3VVFBVEV5K7C3VC32NQ3KY.jpg)
Spain starts in a good position for this new race. Ezequiel Sánchez, executive president of PLD Space, the first European private company to launch a rocket from continental territory (Miura 1); Jaume Sanpera, director of Sateliot, the first entity to offer satellite connectivity for the internet of things (small devices); and Juan Tomás Hernani, founder and CEO of Satlantis, global leader in miniaturized Earth observation technologies, analyze the new scenario in a joint interview. All of them have doubled or tripled turnover and employment in recent years.
Ask. Is ESA’s change of course correct?
IS The policy of returning the contribution of the States in the form of contracts developed by specific contractors has had a long history: technological elements have been generated that have tried to be transferred to the industry. But that can be a shortcut that often hinders competition. Within the private sector, we have managed to produce, with the same level of quality, but with very different costs and times, elements with the capacity to compete. That there is no industry that could be doped, that is conditioned by the public sector, subsidizing certain services that are not competitive, favors competitiveness. It is a significant change. We have to focus on having a competitive industry and that requires collaboration. The private can pull and the public can complement. But we must have competition rules that allow us to develop customer-oriented elements, not from supply, but from demand.
J.S. It is the main change. Until now the ESA decided what had to be investigated and, therefore, there may be a gap between what the market needs and what the ESA thinks the market will need. Now, with an increasingly powerful private sector, it is feasible to let it take advantage of demand. It is very difficult for doped companies to be competitive.
J.T.H.. We have to tread very carefully and know what our path is. It’s about being competitive internationally, not about being a great integrator. It is not about having a satellite manufactured one hundred percent in Spain, hopefully; The point is that, if that is the objective, it is because it is sold in Bulgaria, Colombia or the United Arab Emirates. Any strategy has to be focused on international competitiveness, on us being the first, the best positioned to sell in certain markets and endure. There is China or India, that is, the situation is too complicated for us to do stupid things. We have to migrate from a quota model, which makes the sector very closed, a zoo, to a much more open market. Spanish public investment in space technology is key and the garden must be watered, but the objective is not the trunk, but the branches, which have to be 20 times larger than the trunk. The Spanish Space Agency has to serve as an opportunity for that institutional change that allows migration, that gives way to internationally competitive technologies.
Within the private sector, we have managed to produce, with the same level of quality, but with very different costs and times, elements with the capacity to compete.
Ezequiel Sánchez, executive president of PLD Space
Q. Can this commercialization put scientific research at risk?
IS There are many scientific lines that will exist and continue with commercial exploitation. It’s a matter of finding the right partner. In the United States it happens. When NASA orders Space Elements for scientific use are developed, but there is commercial exploitation behind them.
J.S.. There will continue to be purely scientific projects. It’s not just about buying services. Public and private contracts will allow them to be developed competitively.
Q. What role will the Spanish Space Agency have?
IS It must have a national program with transversal impact throughout the industry and in many ministries. That can have great value in moving towards national sovereignty in the space that must be maintained. Spain is already competitive, but it has been with quotas in programs and in specific contracts. Now companies will come that are competitive in a complete system that provides services with a private part and a public part.
Q. Is Spanish space sovereignty possible?
J.T.H.. Impossible. In all areas it is impossible. The answer is clear: we must determine the areas we would like and what there is. Today we are in a series of companies that did not exist 10 years ago and with more than 1,000 engineers that did not exist. That is a reality with which we should build the next the next floors.
Q. Which floors? What should be a priority?
J.T.H.. What was said at the summit. Have to buy. I see Miteco [Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico] thinking about how it detects industrial gas emissions or contaminated water and soil by its own means. It can be a great driver of the space sector. Let’s think about transportation, container traffic. The public sector has to play a driving role, pulling from what space can give it. And we have to value the client, the user, 1,000 times more. We have two gas companies that have joined the space because they are concerned about methane emissions. That will make the sector grow.
J.S.. There is a huge market that can only be covered from space. Connectivity has been promoted only in cities. But that is only 20% of the earth’s surface. We have sold five million connections outside that coverage area. That is telling you that there is an unmet need in agriculture, in the environment, in forests, in livestock, in infrastructure control, such as train tracks or high-tension lines or coasts or borders.
IS Critical infrastructure has moved space and the State must position itself as a buyer because its critical infrastructure will have an impact on the lives of human beings.
There is a huge market that can only be covered from space.
Jaume Sanpera, director of Sateliot
Q. And can you compete with giants like Amazon or Space X?
J.S. There is no way to compete there. What we are doing is 5G for the Internet of Things with affordable equipment that will allow massive connectivity of any high voltage tower or any cow. We have contracts for hundreds of refrigerated containers to respond to any eventuality without losing the contents. Mountain bikes will have sensors of this type.
JTH It is essential to say that we are not going to compete against the big monsters. Here the party is paid for by the sector that is making all this change: digital companies. We look for niches or we make them. There is the world of telecommunications, the observation market and the positioning market.
It is essential to say that we are not going to compete against the big monsters. Here the party is paid for by the sector that is making all this change: digital companies. We look for niches or we make them
Juan Tomás Hernani, founder and CEO of Satlantis
Q. Is there enough financial muscle?
J.S. It is different in the United States, but it is also true that in Europe and, specifically, in Spain, we are capable of developing things with much smaller capital. But companies need a longer period of maturation to give results and this is a difficulty.
IS. It took us 11 years and faced very high barriers. It is easy to make technology, but to defend it and be competitive in the long term you have to overcome many difficulties. You have to find that patient capital that can finance each of the stages.
Q. And isn’t it faster and cheaper to buy in China?
JTH The technological content that you provide compared to the competition is what will allow you to continue.
Q. And is there talent?
IS We are importing talent because we have very attractive companies to work for. We double jobs every year. There is a war for talent, but there are companies that are attractive.
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