Ireland has reaffirmed its commitment to the ESA as the nation prepares to launch its first satellite.
The European Space Agency (ESA) will receive €125 million from the government over the following five years. This investment is anticipated to help Ireland’s expanding space industry grow even more.
Minister of State for Business, Employment, and Retail Damien English, TD, made the announcement.
English is attending an ESA meeting in Paris to agree on future policies and strategies. Here, he confirmed Ireland’s investment in the ESA’s mandatory programmes as well as a number of optional ones.
As Ireland’s first satellite, EIRSAT-1, is scheduled to be launched next year, the minister said this comes at a “exciting time.”
The miniature cube satellite has been designed and built by researchers and students at University College Dublin as part of the ESA’s Fly Your Satellite programme.
“The science, technology and innovation demonstrated by the launch of our first satellite provides an opportune moment to highlight to our citizens, students and enterprises why investment in space technology and activity, through our membership of ESA, is so important and how it can be a catalyst for further growth in our economy,” English said.
The commercial space industry is estimated to grow to about $1trn by 2040, and Ireland is looking to gain a share of this market.
The Government’s increased investment in the ESA is part of a national strategy set out in 2019 to develop a space-active industry in the country.
Irish companies now hold 97 ESA contracts, up from 70 in 2019; it is hoped that additional funding over the coming years will enable businesses and researchers to take advantage of even more opportunities.
According to English, this will support current jobs while also generating new ones.
“Last year saw 14 Irish companies secure their first ESA contract, almost half of which did so having previously worked with our ESA Business Incubation Centre,” he added.
“Building on that growth will be key for our country as we seek, like other countries, to deal with the challenges and impacts of climate change, the energy crisis, the lasting impact of the pandemic, and the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“The Irish Government recognises the potential that space activities, technologies and space-derived data offers to enable us to tackle these challenges now and in the future.”
The ESA has included Ireland as a member since 1975. Since then, Irish businesses and researchers have participated in a number of well-known missions.
The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, which is arguably the biggest advancement in space technology in 2021, involved Irish participation.
Irish start-up Réaltra created a video system for the telescope’s launch vehicle while scientists at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies worked on some of the telescope’s instruments.
Irish businesses are increasingly using space technologies in non-space markets in accordance with the national space strategy.
Irish companies Mindseed and OceanEnergy secured an ESA contract last year to investigate the use of space tech in renewable ocean energy, while Davra and Treemetrics have received ESA backing to work with Earth observation data.
“Irish companies continued to offer innovative solutions to the global space sector in 2021, particularly through the inclusion of advanced technologies from other industrial sectors which are addressing pressing global issues,” said Enterprise Ireland’s Joe Madden, who is part of the national delegation to the ESA.
“The scope of Irish involvement in space-related activities has increased substantially, with close to 100 Irish companies and a growing number of research teams actively involved in space-related developments supported by ESA, through Enterprise Ireland.”