European Union Agency for the Space Programme: Linking space to user needs
The European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) provides safe and secure European satellite navigation services, advances the commercialization of Galileo, EGNOS, and Copernicus data and services, engages in secure satellite communications (GOVSATCOM & IRIS2), and operates the EUSST Front Desk. EUSPA is also responsible for accrediting the security of all EU Space Programme components. By fostering innovation in the space sector and above and collaborating with the EU Space community, EUSPA contributes to the European Green Deal and digital transition, enhances Union safety and security, and strengthens autonomy and resilience.
Content
The Regulatory Framework of the EUSPA
EUSPA Mission Statement
The mission of the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is defined by the EU Space Programme Regulation. EUSPA’s mission is to be the user-oriented operational Agency of the EU Space Programme, contributing to sustainable growth, security and safety of the European Union. In the execution of its mission, EUSPA counts on strong partnerships with the European Commission, European Parliament, Member States, European Space Agency, and private actors across the EU.
The EU Agency for the Space Programme:
- Provides state-of-the-art, safe and secure positioning, navigation and timing services based on Galileo and EGNOS, cost-effective satellite communications services for GOVSATCOM and soon IRIS2, and soon Front Desk services of the EU Space Surveillance Tracking whilst ensuring the systems’ service continuity and robustness;
- Promotes and maximises the use of data and services offered by Galileo, EGNOS, Copernicus, GOVSATCOM and soon IRIS2 across a broad range of domains.
- Fosters the development of a vibrant European space ecosystem by providing market intelligence, and technical know-how to innovators, academia, start-ups, and SMEs. The agency leverages Horizon Europe, other EU funding, and innovative procurement mechanisms.
- Implements and monitors the security of the EU Space Programme components in space and on the ground with the aim to enhance the security of the Union and its Member States; To do so, EUSPA operates the Galileo Service Monitoring Centre.
- The EU Space Programme Security Accreditation Board is established within the Agency, representing the security accreditation authority for all of the EU Space Programme’s components.
Vision
EUSPA is the operational European Union Agency for the Space Programme. It adopts a user-oriented approach to promote sustainable growth and to improve the security and safety of the European Union.
In the last two decades, the European Union has been dedicated to developing a competitive, innovative, and beneficial EU Space Programme and infrastructure. The European Space Programme has made significant strides, providing unique services in satellite navigation, Earth observation, and telecommunications, and strengthening both the upstream and downstream sectors.
Space technology, data, and services have become indispensable in the daily lives of Europeans, playing a critical role in supporting the Union's strategic interests. These services are ubiquitous, and their applications are expanding to various industries, which are increasingly looking to space to develop solutions to societal challenges.
EUSPA's primary ambition is to act in linking space and users. EUSPA brings all space stakeholders together, allowing them to leverage the synergies of the Space Programme's individual components to deliver the greatest possible benefits to European citizens and businesses. EUSPA leads the implementation of the EU Space Programme, promotes space-based scientific and technical progress, and supports the competitiveness and innovative capacity of space sector industries within the Union, with a particular focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups.
The EU Space Programme and the services and applications it supports contribute to advancing the European Union's objectives and achieving its key policy goals and priorities. However, EUSPA believes that we have just begun to realize the benefits that space can deliver, and a future where business and society increasingly look to space as the resource of the future is very close.
Values
Our values serve as a compass for all our actions and guide how we interact with the world.
- We care
We care about each other and the people we work with; we believe in European values and take our corporate social responsibility seriously.
- We are respectful and diverse
We value and respect people, the environment, the EU institutions and their roles; we encourage diversity and provide equal opportunities for all.
- We are professional
We continuously develop and improve our knowledge, processes, skills and competencies to deliver high quality, cost effective services with integrity and high ethical standards.
- We are innovative
We continuously search for ways to stimulate innovation in our work and the work of our partners to improve our performance and excel in our mission.
- We are reliable
Together, as one team, we are trusted partners to our colleagues across the Agency and to our stakeholders.
- We are accountable
We take responsibility for our work and reach decisions based on due diligence.
EUSPA values provide the basis for EUSPA’s ethics, which are also supported by the specific internal guidance to all EUSPA staff on avoiding conflict of interest, complemented by whistle-blowing arrangements to uphold EUSPA’s high governance standards.
History
In 2021, in line with the new EU Space Regulation and the growing role of space in supporting EU priorities in terms of growth, competitiveness, sustainability, and security, the EU decided to expand the scope of the former European GNSS Agency (GSA) to include new responsibilities. This resulted in the creation of the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), which was officially launched on 12 May 2021.
EUSPA builds on the proven track record of the GSA. In taking on responsibility for various new Space Programme components, EUSPA leverages the GSA’s technical expertise, market intelligence, security know-how, and the extensive EU space-based community that it has built, to create synergies that will take EU space services and applications to a new level both in Europe and around the world.
The EUSPA story begins with the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) set up in May 2002 by the Council;
Two years later, the European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA) - the GSA's predecessor - was initially established as a Community Agency on 12 July 2004, by Council Regulation (EC) 1321/2004, status amended in 2006 by Council Regulation (EC) No 1942/2006. The European Council took this important step because it recognised the strategic value of Europe having its own independent satellite positioning and navigation programme, namely EGNOS and Galileo, and the need to ensure that essential public interests in this field are adequately defended and represented.
The GSA officially took over all tasks previously assigned to the GJU on 1 January 2007.
With Regulation (EU) No. 912/2010, which entered into force on 9 November 2010, and subsequently amended by Regulation (EU) No. 512/2014 of 16 April 2014, the GSA was restructured into an agency of the European Union named the European GNSS Agency (GSA).
The Regulatory Framework of the EUSPA
The main legal framework currently applicable to the Agency is available in the Register of documents, which you can find here.