News

The new European Commission, which is expected to start in December, will be marked by some substantial restructuring of commissioners' portfolios and of Directorates-General, including the consolidation of a new one devoted to "Defence Industry and Space". The last ESPI Brief examines some of the questions raised by this new milestone in the long-lasting development of EU affairs in defence and in space and by the rapprochement of these two domains.

ESPI staff attended the 70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Washington, D.C., which took place between 20 and 25 October 2019. The involvevement of ESPI during this annual event included chairing technical sessions, participation in IAF commitees, presentation of ESPI research activities, and involvement in various side events and meetings. 

The recent evolution of the global space sector, characterised by an increased commercialisation of space activities and an overall greater maturity of the private space industry, represents a great opportunity for space agencies to revisit and enhance some of their long-standing modes of operation, in particular with regard to their interaction with the private sector.

ESPI is glad to announce the launch of the second edition of the Space Venture Europe Survey for European Space start-ups. The Space Venture Europe series provides unique figures on the value of private investments in European space start-ups and beyond, and characterize key features of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the European space sector.

ESPInsights is a quarterly publication providing the reader with a synthetic overview of major developments in the global space sector on the covered period and embeds useful links to official documents, public reports, web articles or conference websites for further details on the topic.

The topic of European small spaceports is gaining more and more traction in the past year, following announcements and concrete plans outlined in a number of countries such as the UK and Portugal, among others. The European news outlet Politico.eu interviewed ESPI senior researcher Matteo Tugnoli regarding these developments.