Further development of the Copernicus programme, the competitiveness of the European Union's space activities and the upcoming Czech Presidency of the EU Council. These were some of the topics discussed at today's meeting of the EU Competitiveness Council of Ministers responsible for space activities in Luxembourg. Transport Minister Martin Kupka attended this meeting on behalf of the Czech Republic.
The EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) has officially started its operation. A vast majority of the EU Space Programme will be newly managed from the Czech Republic such as the existing EU satellite navigation systems Galileo and EGNOS, Earth observation system Copernicus, upcoming telecommunication system GOVSATCOM as well as infrastructure for space traffic management, space weather and more. In addition, the EU Space Programme will incentivise entrepreneurship and innovations, involvement of small and medium businesses and other activities aimed at development and deployment of services based on users’ needs.
The first ambitious project from the Czech National Space Plan will be carried out after the European Space Agency (ESA) recommended the Space Laboratory for Advanced Variable Instruments and Applications (SLAVIA) project. It should lay down the foundations for future mining on asteroids by using two 20-kilograms satellites each of which will carry three devices designated mainly for exploration of asteroid fragments, or interplanetary matter entering the Earth atmosphere. Negotiations between ESA and a consortium led by a company S.A.B. Aerospace from Brno about launch of the project are in the final stage. Feasibility study, which will set the timeframe, should be elaborated within 12 months.
Mr Václav Kobera, the Director of ITS and Space Activities Department at the Ministry of Transport was elected today to chair the Administrative Board of the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), which is based in Prague.