Assessment of the “Catalunya Espai 2030” strategy

“Catalonia establishes a public capital fund to boost the space industry with an initial investment of 40 million euros. This was announced by the Minister of Business and Labour, Miquel Sàmper, during the presentation of the Catalonia Space 2030 Strategy, the Government’s new roadmap for the next 5 years, aiming to strengthen the space industry in Catalonia and contribute to Europe’s technological sovereignty in this field. It also aims to address major global space-related challenges such as data management, exploitation, and connectivity.”—Government of Catalonia

Our assessment

• Institutional support: Confirms the continuation of political support until 2030 for the sector, small within the global economy but with the increasing growth rate; the term “New Space” is dropped to reflect the consolidation and expansion of the entire industry.
• Flagship/Driver programs: “Flagship Program 3: Catalonia Observes”; “Flagship Program 4: Earth Observation Missions”. Between 2026 and 2030, Catalonia will launch four missions dedicated to EO (Earth Observation). The first will be GENEO-2, scheduled for Q1 2026, as a continuation of GENEO-1 “Menut”. In addition, four telecommunications missions (6G and related) will be commissioned, supporting the consolidation of satellite manufacturing companies in the country (e.g., GPA Space and OpenCosmos).
• Presence: The document confirms that Spascat has been present in almost all forums of the Catalan space sector, and our contributions have been taken into account. Some of our projects are also featured (ESA BIC, ESA PhiLab, Use Case of Menut) along with our internationalization.
• Europe as a core axis: The Catalan Government intends to collaborate closely with the ESA to participate in European-level EO satellite missions. The ESA director confirmed the plan to create a governmental “Copernicus” system accessible exclusively to European institutions, with at least 1 m resolution and a revisit time under 24 hours. It is expected to become operational between 2028 and 2032.
• Trade fairs: Continued support is confirmed for companies like ours to participate in international fairs and conferences alongside the main organizations driving the strategy (IEEC, ICGC, and i2Cat).
• Investment: “Flagship Program 6 – Catalonia Space 2030 Fund.” The Government will allocate 7.5+40 M€ to AVANÇSA in 2026 to participate in investment rounds of Catalan space companies.
• Budget: Estimated at around 150 M€ mobilized by the Government to implement the strategy through 2030. It remains modest (30 M€/year) but continues to grow.
• Infrastructure: Plans include creating a hub based on the Alguaire rocket engine test site and the Montsec teleport. The creation of Catalan payloads will also be fostered. It does not directly affect Spascat, though the GeoHUB and interconnection of services using open and EO data are mentioned, however still to be fully defined.

News

• El Govern presenta l’Estratègia Catalunya Espai 2030 per seguir impulsant la indústria de l’espai - IEEC
• El Govern invertirá 150 millones de euros en la estrategia catalana del espacio hasta 2030
• Catalunya es dota d’un fons de capital públi… - Govern.cat
• El Govern destina 40 milions d’euros a impulsar la indústria espacial
• Catalunya invertirà 150 M€ per impulsar la indústria espacial
• Catalunya invertirà 150 milions per potenciar la indústria aeroespacial