Atlantic International Satellite Launch Program

The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the Azores Mission Structure for Space (EMA-Space) have launched an international call for qualified entities worldwide to express interest in collaborating with Portuguese companies and research and engineering centers to design, install and operate a spaceport on Santa Maria Island, in the Azores, in association with the development and operation of a new generation of satellite launch services for space. This initiative is launched with the technical support of the European Space Agency, ESA.

The initiative will be presented at a “Breaking News Event” on October 2, 11 am, during the International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2018 in Bremen , www.iac2018.org . THE Call will receive expressions of interest until the end of October 2018 .

The potential development of a spaceport in the Atlantic aims to stimulate a new generation of space activities based on small satellites. Its objective is to expand the existing facilities on Santa Maria Island for monitoring and tracking satellites and to open up a new generation of launcher services and space activities based on small satellites for the benefit of society in general. It considers the unique location of the Azores in the Atlantic and their centrality in relation to Europe, the Americas and Africa, with the aim of initiating new launches from 2021. 

This initiative also aims to stimulate a new response to the growing demand for the use of small satellites for diverse purposes, including telecommunications and forms of space-based internet, but also Earth observation applications, including agriculture and fisheries, infrastructure monitoring, urban development and security, among others – a market that has been budgeted by several international sources at several billion euros over the next decade. This initiative also aims to stimulate the creation of qualified jobs and new business projects with greater added value in association with the “New Space Industries”, together with the need to accelerate security and protection initiatives involving the use of micro, mini and small satellites.

The Atlantic International Satellite Launch Program is being launched based on a 3-phase process, which now begins with listening to the international market and in order to attract foreign direct investment to support the dynamization of the space sector in Portugal. This process will be carried out on the basis of a High-Level International Commission, with national and foreign experts, coordinated by Jean Jacques Dordain, former Director General of ESA, and including, among others, Dava Newman (co-director of the MIT-Portugal Program and former Deputy Administrator of NASA) and Brian Tapley (founder of the Center for Space Studies at the University of Texas at Austin).