Justice Programme

Space strategy for Europe, focus on four strategic goals: 

• Maximising the benefits of space for society and the EU economy;
• Fostering a competitive and innovative European space sector;
• Reinforcing Europe’s strategic autonomy in accessing and using space in a secure and safe environment;
• Strengthening Europe’s role as a global actor and promoting international cooperation.

The different strands for EU Space programme are:

• Satellite navigation systems, with a budget of €9 billion:

        Galileo, Europe’s own global satellite navigation system, provides accurate and reliable positioning and timing information for autonomous and connected cars, railways, aviation and other sectors. The Galileo Services will gradually improve as more satellites are deployed and other services (e.g high accuracy service) will be made available.

        The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) provides “safety of life” navigation services to aviation, maritime and land-based users over most of Europe. Safety of life means that the positioning information is so precise that, for example, an aircraft can safely land using it. All services provided by EGNOS are already fully operational and the number of users is growing (already 350 airports using it). The system needs constant maintenance and will also be improved to provide better quality services.

• Earth observation, with a budget of €5.4 billion:

        Copernicus, a leading provider of Earth observation data across the globe, already helps save lives at sea, improves our response to natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, forest fires or floods, and allows farmers to better manage their crops. Copernicus covers six thematic areas: land monitoring, marine monitoring, atmosphere monitoring, climate change, emergency management response and security. Over 2021-2027 Copernicus will expand these existing services to meet emerging needs, adding new observation capacities for CO2, and other greenhouse gas emissions monitoring, land use monitoring in support of agriculture, observations of the Polar regions, as well as security needs to improve detection of small vessels in support of border and maritime surveillance, the fight against illegal trafficking or the needs for EU external actions.

• New security components, with a budget of €442 million:

        The new Governmental Satellite Communication (GOVSATCOM) initiative will provide Member States and EU security actors with guaranteed access to secure satellite communications.

        The Space Situational Awareness (SSA) initiative will support the long-term sustainability and security of space activities by ensuring protection against space hazards. The pilot project on surveillance of space and tracking of objects will be further developed to increase its performance and autonomy when it comes to preventing collisions in space and un-controlled re-entry of objects to earth. Complementary activities will address other space hazards threatening critical infrastructures (space weather, comets, and asteroids).