EU Space Programme - Performance

Programme in a nutshell

Concrete examples of achievements

Budget for 2021-2027

Rationale and design of the programme

The EU space programme is designed to support and transform EU legislation in fields such as the environment, civil protection, security, climate change, the internal market, transport, energy, agriculture, cooperation with non-EU countries and humanitarian aid.

Furthermore, EU action for space research under Horizon Europe supports technological development, innovation and the competitiveness of European upstream and downstream space sectors, including support for space entrepreneurship.

Budget

Budget programming (million EUR):

^{(*) Only Article 15(3) of the financial regulation.}

  Financial programming:
  - EUR 490 million (- 3%)
  compared to the legal basis*

^{* Top-ups pursuant to Article 5 of the multiannual financial framework regulation are excluded from financial programming in this comparison.}

• The linearity of the financial programming of the space programme was defined when establishing the objectives of the space regulation. It is in accordance with the status of the two flagship programmes (Galileo and EGNOS for Space Navigation and Copernicus for Earth Observation) and with the planned enhancement of the capabilities of the new programmes SSA and Govsatcom. This linearity is key to provide a constant, state-of-the art quality of services together with the fostering of a strong union Space economy
• The decrease of EUR 490 million compared to the legal basis is the result of two different factors. On the one hand, the global navigation satellite system programme contributed EUR 260 million to the new proposal of the IRIS² (secure connectivity) programme. The financial programming of IRIS² is not included in the above table figures. On the other hand, the space programme also contributed EUR 230 million to the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) in order to support and finance the additional tasks delegated to the agency in the frame of the new multiannual financial framework.

• The above financial programming includes also amounts received from third party countries (Norway, Iceland and Switzerland) in the form of assigned revenues.

Budget performance – implementation

Multiannual cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2022 (million EUR):

Annual voted budget implementation (million EUR)⁽¹⁾:

^{(1) Voted appropriations (C1) only.}

Contribution to horizontal priorities

Green budgeting

Contribution to green budgeting priorities (million EUR):

• Copernicus contributes significantly to the conception, implementation and monitoring of the EU's climate policy, both in terms of climate mitigation and in terms of climate adaptation. This includes the support of DG Climate Action in honouring the EU's international obligations, such as those under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Copernicus’ land monitoring, marine environment monitoring and atmosphere monitoring services notably contribute to this, and the Climate Change Service is fully dedicated to supporting climate change policies and the transition to a carbon neutral society and economy.
• Remote sensing and the services offered by the Copernicus program, in particular the land monitoring service, the climate change service and the marine environment monitoring service,  have come to play an increasingly important role in supporting biodiversity conservation and restoration. Today, products and tools offered by these services contribute to monitoring changes in ecosystems and biodiversity loss and are used in the context of the EU biodiversity strategy, the Convention on Biological Diversity and reporting on sustainable development goals.
• The ambient air directive encourages Member States to exploit for monitoring purposes information products and supplementary tools (e.g. regular evaluation and quality assessment reports, policy online applications), provided by the Earth observation component of the EU space programme, in particular the Copernicus atmosphere monitoring service.

Gender

Contribution to gender equality (million EUR) (*):

<sup>(*) Based on the applied gender contribution methodology, the following scores are attributed at the most granular level of intervention possible:
- 2: interventions the principal objective of which is to improve gender equality;
- 1: interventions that have gender equality as an important and deliberate objective but not as the main reason for the intervention;
- 0: non-targeted interventions (interventions that are expected to have no significant bearing on gender equality);
- 0*: score to be assigned to interventions with a likely but not yet clear positive impact on gender equality.</sup>

On gender equality, no dedicated budget expenditure incurred in 2022. The activities that were relevant to the promotion of gender equality were the following.

• The promotion of gender equality through the use of space data via indirect contributions.
• A mapping exercise which took place during 2022 through an industry-wide survey on equality, diversity and inclusion in the EU. The key findings are available online ⁽¹⁾. This project also contributes to SDG 5 on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls and to the Commission’s high-level objective of fostering a Union of Equality, complementing initiatives in place to support all people in all their diversity to pursue any chosen path in life, free from discrimination and other unjust biases.

^{(1)   Equality, diversity and inclusion in the aeronautics, defence and space industries (europa.eu), https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/equality-diversity-and-inclusion-aeronautics-defence-and-space-industries_en.}

Digital

Contribution to digital transition (million EUR):

• Copernicus provides a wide range of Earth observation data and related model products, so-called ‘reanalyses’, that generate a seamless data product without gaps in spatial or temporal coverage. These models also allow for forecasts and predictions to be made in certain thematic areas. These data are valuable content for a vast range of commercial applications, both in the professional and in the consumer domain. The integrated data management of Copernicus covers, inter alia, harmonisation and interoperability with other EU programmes such as Digital Europe or other international organisations such as the European Space Agency and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellite. Some first activities on complementing numerical modelling with artificial intelligence have been undertaken.
• The programme's contribution to the digital transition was estimated on the basis of the Recovery and Resilience Facility’s methodology.

Budget performance – outcomes

EU satellite navigation component

• Galileo. No Galileo service disruptions occurred in 2022. The positioning and timing performance of the Galileo Initial Services is better than that of any other global navigation satellite system. The services are fully interoperable with the US Global Positioning System (GPS), and their combined use provides more accurate and reliable positioning for end users. Work is ongoing to improve the resilience of Galileo for uninterrupted availability of all services. The Galileo Open Service was delivered with excellent quality and availability. Galileo also delivered excellent ‘Search and rescue’ services, including the ‘Return link’ service. Galileo faces risks on key milestones relating to 1) the full operational capability of the open service and 2) the improved public regulated service. This is mainly due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent non-availability of two launch services with Soyuz launchers (two satellites per launch). The four satellites concerned are now planned to be launched with Ariane 6. But since the flight of the Ariane 6 maiden is delayed, the Commission has undertaken a set of actions to make use of a ‘one-off’ backup from a non-EU launch service provider as early as end 2023. Nevertheless, Galileo continues to deliver high quality services and very accurate signals through its operational satellites in orbit, and the successful launch and introduction of two satellites in December 2021 further improved and reinforced Galileo’s performance. In view of the improved public regulated service milestone set for 2024, the Commission established a dedicated work force with the institutional and industrial actors concerned to closely monitor and control the execution of the workplan, and is engaging with Member States on possible risks. The manufacturing of additional satellites to complete the constellation and provide spares continued, but there are deployment delays due to launch difficulties. The production of Galileo-enabled receivers has further increased to ensure the provision of long-term, state-of-the-art and secure positioning, navigation and timing services. In 2022, Galileo was present in 65% of receiver models worldwide, with the key market segment being consumer devices (smartphones and tablets), continuing the rapid market uptake since 2016. The estimated number of Galileo-enabled smartphones sold worldwide exceeded 3.9 billion, with more than 900 Galileo-enabled smartphone and tablet models available.
• EGNOS. EGNOS is fully operational to monitor and correct open signals emitted by GPS and, in the future, Galileo. By improving the accuracy to around 1 metre and the reliability of the GPS signal over Europe, EGNOS allows users in Europe to use GPS signals for safety-critical applications such as operating aircraft. EGNOS’s performance has improved steadily. EGNOS system evolutions are being prepared to solve major obsolescence issues and improve the coverage of Member States’ territories. EGNOS is used by an ever-increasing number of airports in Europe (more than 870 in 2022 compared to 373 in 2019), also due to the introduction of the mandatory publication of localiser performance, with vertical guidance delivered by EGNOS in all instrument runway ends before January 2024. EGNOS’s market share has stabilised at around 63% of the total number of receiver models worldwide, because consumer solutions (e.g. mobile phones) are far less likely to be enabled for satellite-based augmentation systems, as such systems consume more energy due to continuous signal-in-space data reception. However, the low adoption rate in consumer solutions is compensated for by an almost 100% uptake in high-precision applications (such as agriculture and geomatics), while newer technologies such as drones also have a high level of uptake of satellite-based augmentation systems. Safety-of-life applications benefit the most from EGNOS implementation in other segments, such as the aviation, maritime, rail and road markets.
• In 2021, a European Court of Auditors’ special report assessed the measures taken by the Commission since 2014 to promote the uptake of services derived from Galileo and Copernicus, aimed at achieving the expected economic and societal benefits. The Commission is working towards delivering on the Court’s four recommendations within the timeline set by the European Court of Auditors – the first one by 2023 and the rest by 2024.

EU Earth observation component

• Copernicus. In 2021, Copernicus continued to successfully deliver on its general and specific objectives. Robust and reliable Earth observation and monitoring data and information were provided on a full, free and open basis. The lack of radar data due to the failure of the Sentinel-1b satellite was partly compensated by adjusting the observation plan for Sentinel-1A and reinforcing the use of contributing missions, including from our international partners. The six Copernicus services (land, marine, atmosphere, climate change, emergency and security) continued their activities to provide continuous and reliable geo-information, as demonstrated by the respective key performance indicators. Copernicus reaches more than 950 000 registered users and achieves a high level of user satisfaction. The total amount of Copernicus Sentinel data products available by the end of Q3 2022 was 7.9 petabytes. Users can choose from a service portfolio of 558 information products. Copernicus successfully embraced the big-data revolution by setting up the data and information access services, collocating Copernicus data and information online and near-line, so that it is ready to be processed on demand. EUSPA's 2022 Earth observation and global navigation satellite system market report estimates that over the next decade revenue is set to double from roughly EUR 2.8 billion to over EUR 5.5 billion, as the market for Earth observation applications is boosted by a large pool of added-value services (i.e. 85% of global revenue). DG Defence Industry and Space worked closely with the Joint Research Centre to set up the Knowledge Centre for Earth Observation. Both the Knowledge Centre for Earth Observation and EUSPA ensure Copernicus’s uptake by policy users within 17 Commission user services, cross-sectoral policy areas and the commercial markets, as well as by other users. The programme’s international dimension was further reinforced through the conclusion of the agreement with Panama.
• Cassini. All Cassini actions were successfully launched in accordance with the plans and budgetary limits. A review of the qualitative impact on the space industry and the ecosystem shows that the Cassini initiative’s contributions exceeded expectations in 2021 and 2022. This can be explained by a positive reception by many stakeholders and a better-than-expected coordination of activities between the Commission, the European Investment Fund, the European Investment Bank, EUSPA, the European Space Agency and national authorities.
• Green budgeting priorities. All four Cassini hackathons so far have partially focused on green tech and green solutions. The Cassini Maritime Challenge aims at solving plastic pollution, in line with the green deal. Many start-ups in Cassini Matchmaking have products aimed at improving sustainability or reducing the consumption of raw materials, although the ratio is hard to measure due to methodological challenges. The Cassini Investment Facility (implemented by the European Investment Fund) also considers sustainability when selecting venture capital funds.
• Digital transition. All Cassini actions are fully in line with the objectives of the digital transition and will support companies, institutions and citizens to adopt new digital solutions.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

• Efforts are continuously made to seize all relevant opportunities identified by the DG equality coordinator and other staff of the DG. For instance, by organising side events / workshops or including gender equality aspects in communication activities and events on various matters related to the EU space components, when promoting the competitiveness and innovation of the EU space industry or when promoting the market uptake of relevant space-based applications. One major event, the EU Space Week ⁽¹⁾, which took place in Prague the first week of October 2022, had a dedicated session covering gender equality in the space sector. This session attracted many participants (more than 50 people in person, plus those following it online). Also, during EU Space Week, certain key points of the programme had been translated into international sign language, namely the plenary sessions and the session about space solutions for people with disabilities.
• Cassini is actively promoting gender equality and diversity of backgrounds and skills. All Cassini activities aim at increasing female participation, a difficult task given that the metrics for entrepreneurship and investments are in general heavily skewed towards males. For the first year of activities with Cassini Matchmaking, 18% of entrepreneur participants were females, a figure that will hopefully improve in the following years. The Cassini Investment Facility (implemented by the European Investment Fund) will feature metrics on gender when the ex post reporting is delivered in 2023-2027.

^{(1) https://www.euspaceweek.eu/.}

Contribution to the sustainable development goals