The Spanish state is a founding member of the European Space Agency (ESA). Since it was established, Spanish entities have actively participated in the various activities of the Agency, which has been the main means of scientific and technological training in space matters in Spain.
The path of Spanish participation has been a long and constant journey of increasing responsibilities of our country’s entities both in the design and in the development and construction of subsystems and space systems, until in recent years they have achieved the capacity to integrate a complete satellite. Spain has been no stranger to this process of strengthening the relevance of space activity. Our national technological, industrial and scientific capabilities have evolved from marginal activities to the leadership of complete national and international missions.
ESA is an international organisation of which Spain is a founding member and which has specific rules and procedures. In particular, ESA follows the principle of “fair return” which, to the extent possible, guarantees a minimum industrial return on investment made in ESA programmes (the percentage varies from programme to programme). The work of the CDTI management teams in the different ESA programmes and support for the Spanish industry and its proposals make it possible to complete this minimum and achieve 100% industrial return for Spain. For this reason, it can be said that in recent years there has been an adequate return both from a scientific-technological and economic perspective at ESA.
Execution and results
The Council of Ministers meeting held on 11/07/2023 agreed to authorise the Spanish Space Agency to amend the contribution plan to ESA, previously amended after an Agreement dated 8 November 2019.
The authorised payment profile for 2023 and for future years is €300 for each year, up to 2027.
The expected payment profile for the 2023-2027 period includes possible variations due to programme overruns, contribution adjustments and price updates in accordance with the States' responsibility in the ESA Convention, as well as possible interests that may arise in accordance with ESA's Financial Regulations, and the payment of pensions corresponding to this period.
At present, payments for 2022 and the first two instalments for 2023 have already been paid.