Fumata blanca for the Spanish Space Agency

Let's get on with it! The last meeting of ministers in 2021, chaired by the head of the PSOE-United coalition government, has just approved the new National Security Strategy (NSS), which includes in its pages, without any circumlocution, the need to establish such an organisation.

Line of Action number 19 is clear in stating that for the security of global common spaces, one of which it identifies as air and outer space, it is necessary to "create the Spanish Space Agency". It does not say study the implementation or anything of the sort. It uses the verb "to create" and assigns the body the administrative status of an Agency, which means endowing it with legal personality and its own budget. 

Moreover, the aforementioned Line of Action specifies that such an organisation should have "a dedicated National Security component to lead the space effort, efficiently coordinate the various national agencies with responsibilities in the space sector and unify international collaboration and coordination". In other words, it sums up the obvious and so often and for so many years called for by the national space community as a whole.

As has become clear in previous reflections, President Pedro Sánchez has waited for the publication of the ESN to hide behind his already taken decision to establish the Spanish Space Agency. There is no doubt that the rapid evolution of the international space sector and the reports of the director of the Department of National Security of the Presidency of the Government, General Miguel Ángel Ballesteros - a very good connoisseur of space matters - have made a dent in the will of the head of the Executive.

But... wait for it! What has already been formally announced in the new ESN is not the birth of the Agency, but the proof that there is a... pregnancy. From now on, in line with the meaning of a Line of Action, the doors are officially opened - and not behind the scenes, as until now - to begin the arduous tasks of a working group of true experts in what they have in their hands, which should conclude with the, we hope, happy birth of the Agency... no one knows when. 

Although better late than never, it is worth remembering that 60 years ago, on 19 December 1961, when Pedro Sánchez was 11 years old, the then President of the French Republic, General Charles de Gaulle, established the French Space Agency under the name of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). Today it is the most important space institution in the European Union, with the exception of Germany. 

A driving force behind the growth of space in Europe, CNES was founded by the aforementioned French military infantryman just three years after another military man - also an infantryman - General Dwight Eisenhower, while President of the United States, officially created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on 1 October 1958, the all-powerful and famous NASA, the only one to have had its astronauts set foot on the Moon as long ago as 1969.  

But in Spain, neither the economy, nor the finances, nor even the industry, the technology, let alone the geostrategic ambitions, are on a par with France or, of course, the United States. However, ESN recalls that outer space is considered "the last frontier of geopolitical confrontation" and has become a "domain of intensive commercial exploitation", which requires the government to have a dedicated outer space agency, as almost a third of the world's countries have. 

Even the Principality of Monaco has created the Monegasque Office for Space Affairs. Prince Albert was in a hurry to christen his space organisation the Agency. Rwanda established its space agency in 2020. Portugal in 2019, the same year as the Philippines, Malaysia and Uzbekistan. In 2018, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Luxembourg, Sweden, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe did so. 

Spain has lagged far behind and must now make a slow but steady start to catch up. Bilateral agreements, a neglected area by the National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA) and also by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), are a neglected facet that should be promoted.  

The lack of a higher strategic orientation and the limitations of all kinds of the two aforementioned institutions with direct responsibilities in the development and promotion of the national space sector, together with the lack of an Agency, a Policy, a Strategy and a National Space Plan, have been the serious obstacles that have made it difficult for other countries to be interested in reaching specific agreements with Spain to develop joint projects. Also the lack of a Mister Space to personify the sector, not to mention the lack of a National Space Law and its derivatives.  

Fortunately, the new ESN - whose main architect is General Ballesteros and his team - stresses that "the space sector is key to National Security because of the services it provides" and, without ambiguity, points out that "it is necessary to develop a security policy in outer space based on international cooperation". It goes on to state that Spain should join international initiatives linked to the peaceful use of outer space, "with special attention to the space programmes of the European Union". 

It recognises "the accelerated evolution of the sector" and confirms that "an effective and efficient distribution of space competences among the various bodies involved must be achieved". It concludes by assuring that the creation of a Spanish Space Agency "will help to organise competences and establish a national policy to guide both the public and the private sector"!

He warns that some non-EU operators are on the way to achieving a dominant position in the markets, "which could jeopardise both access to space and the use of some space services". And it questions "the current Spanish public-private cooperation model in government communications and Earth observation" that Hisdesat is leading, which it blames on the "proliferation of new satellite constellations".

It concludes by picking up on the words that public and private managers in the Spanish space sector have been repeating over and over again. An Agency will make it possible to "maximise the return on investment, promote public and private collaboration spaces, facilitate the dual use of space capabilities and strengthen the national space industry sector", in addition to representing Spain internationally in space forums. 

In terms of economic and financial stability, he admits that the aerospace productive fabric is a "strategic industrial sector for security", which he places on the same level as technology, health and renewable energies. He points out that these are spheres of activity that need to be "strengthened", with a view to "securing the value chain, contributing to greater strategic autonomy and greater resilience in crisis situations", while also pointing out that these are areas of activity that are the object of "foreign direct investment". President, will the Spanish Space Agency see the light of day in 2022? Let's hope so.