The GSA joined the European Commission, members of the European Parliament and the European space community at the Seventh Annual Conference on EU Space Policy to discuss how Europe is confronting the rising demand for services and applications. The conference was held 27 – 28 January in Brussels.
A consensus coming from the two day event was that 2015 will be a crucial year for European
space programmes. With several launches planned that will place new Galileo and Copernicus satellites into orbit, 2015 will put the spotlight on the competitiveness of Europe within this sector.
“The new European Commission considers space policy very important and is the flagship of the smart economy that we want to build,” said European Commission Vice President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič. “Space policy is a tool for building innovation and a solid industrial base in Europe, which is essential to protecting us from the effects of recession.”
This is a sentiment echoed by others: “Space policy is the symbol of European cooperation,” said European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain. “We need services and applications to serve as a link between space and the end user.”
European GNSS as a Case in Point
Perhaps nowhere is this connection between space technology and user needs more visible than in the transportation sector, where both EGNOS and Galileo are driving forces. GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides elaborated on this during a session entitled ‘EGNOS, Galileo and transport activities: how to mobilise public policy and the end user to fully benefit from this European technology’.
For example, take aviation, which is already a major user of satellite technology – and in the future its dependency on such technology is only expected to grow. “EGNOS was designed to support airspace users to improve today’s Non Precision Approach operations, as recommended by ICAO,” said des Dorides. “The introduction of EGNOS approaches in aviation is part of a wider strategy for new navigation capabilities in the shape of what we call Performance Based Navigation (PBN), and it is a priority for ICAO and the European ATM Master Plan.”
Today, 163 LPVs are operational in 106 airports, 86 APV Baro can be flown using EGNOS vertical guidance and more than 500 runways plan to use EGNOS-enabled approaches by 2018. In addition, the shipment of EGNOS-enabled devices are expected to dominate the market, especially the regional, business and general aviation segments – growing from some 20% in 2012 to 40% in 2018.
Another area of transport positioned to benefit from E-GNSS is rail. “As to rail, DG GROW and the GSA will continue to support the railway industry to define the E-GNSS requirements and overall architecture of the GNSS-enabled train positioning subsystem to be included in the ERTMS,” explained des Dorides. “In general, the main advantage of the GNSS-based solution is that it allows for a remarkable increase in safety at a lower cost than other solutions.”
A recent success story comes from the eCall initiative. The initiative intends to install into all new cars sold in Europe a device that automatically calls the 112 emergency number in the case of an accident or other emergency. “The eCall device will be mandatory on all new car models that are type approved in Europe as of 2018,” said des Dorides. “The legislation is now finalised and adoption is expected this year.”
To further initiatives like these, the GSA recently issued the Galileo Service Operator Tender (GSOp) – the first concrete step made by the agency in its role overseeing the exploitation of the programme and most likely the highest contract ever to be awarded in the Galileo programme.
More information on the Galileo Service Operator Tender
“This contract, with its emphasis on service and performance, will shape the future of Galileo,” said des Dorides.
Commitment at the EU Level
The Juncker Investment Plan – which has a focus on further developing space-based applications,
including in transportation – presents a huge opportunity for the sector. “My focus is on jobs and growth, and an effective space policy will contribute to that,” said Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Elżbieta Bieńkowska. “Space is a highly strategic sector, if we get policy right, it will help us build our industrial base – and this will mean more investment, more growth and more jobs.”
“Transportation is an essential backbone to our daily life and our economy, and half of all revenues generated by all satellite navigation programmes come from the transport sector,” added Matthias Petschke, Director of the European GNSS programmes at the European Commission, DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.
Such a user-focused space policy also has economic benefits. “All applications and the commercialisation of them will be a very useful tool for economic development,” said European Parliament TRAN Committee Vice Chair Dominique Riquet. To emphasise this point, Riquet notes that the US enjoys EURO 150 billion of positive economic impact from its GPS programme – clearly showing that Europe only stands to benefit from its plan to develop the downstream market.
“My focus is on jobs and growth, and an effective space policy will contribute to that.”
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Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Elżbieta Bieńkowska
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