The European Space Week, the go-to event for Europe’s space community, is happening from 3 to 6 October 2022 in Prague, Czech Republic. From policymakers to industry, start-ups, entrepreneurs, public authorities, investors and users, it is the place to be for anyone interested in current – and future – trends of the EU’s Space Programme. The four days of the event are packed with plenaries, panel discussions, award ceremonies and high-level keynote addresses.
The event is jointly organised by the European Commission and the EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) in collaboration with the Czech Presidency of the Council and the City of Prague.
The EU Space Programme
The new Space Programme of the European Union adopted in 2021 sets an ambitious agenda for a more dynamic, innovative and resilient European space ecosystem. EU Space provides innovative space technology, data and services indispensable in the lives of Europeans, and addresses an increasing range of EU ambitions and priorities.
The EU Space Programme consists of several flagship components:
- Copernicus: Europe’s Earth observation programme. Copernicus services address six thematic areas: land, marine, atmosphere, climate change, emergency, and security, supporting a wide range of applications.
- EGNOS: the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is Europe’s regional satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) that is used to improve the performance of GPS and Galileo in the future.
- Galileo: Europe’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), providing improved positioning and timing information with significant positive implications for many European services and users.
- GOVSATCOM: the EU Governmental Satellite Communications (GOVSATCOM) programme aims at providing secure and cost-efficient communications capabilities to security and safety critical missions and operations managed by the EU and its Member States, including national security actors and EU Agencies and institutions.
- SSA: Space Situational Awareness (SSA) means a holistic approach towards the main space hazards, including collision between satellites and space debris, space weather phenomena, and near-Earth objects.
EU Space User Consultation Platform
The EU Space User Consultation Platform (UCP) is a user requirements event, a focal point for EUSPA and the European Commission to take the pulse of the wide-ranging user communities of the EU Space Programme. The Consultation engages users, industries, service providers and R&D stakeholders involved in applications relying, for the first time, on Positioning, Navigation, Timing, Earth Observation, and Secure Telecommunications. This year, users from the seven different market segments will present the results of their recent work, share their views on how EU Space technologies can be improved and discuss their needs. The sessions will run in parallel as hybrid events.
