LISBON: Portugal is preparing to create a space agency, the minister for science, technology and higher education, Manuel Heitor, said Wednesday, describing this as “one of the main challenges” for 2017 for his ministry.
The comments came as the ministry announced that Portugal intends to increase its financial contribution to the European Space Agency (ESA) by €30.5 million over the next six years, to bolster the participation of the country’s companies and institutions in space programmes. It is to propose an increase in its contribution to just over €86 million from the current€55.5 million between 2017 and 2022. In a statement, Heitor was quoted as saying that “the main strategy is to ensure Portugal’s participation in programmes of Atlantic observation and of launching new satellites.” But, he revealed in comments to Lusa, Portugal intends to go further. “We’re preparing, with the companies, of course, the creation of a space agency,” Heitor said, without giving details. “For us to launch ourselves into a greater and deeper activity [in the space sector] we must start going into the groups of countries that have a space agency, with professionals.”
According to the minister, who was speaking to Lusa on the eve of a ministerial meeting of the ESA in Lucerne, Switzerland, the “evolution in the scheme of governance” in space activities in Portugal, with the creation of a space agency, “will be one of the main challenges” next year. “I would say that in the last 15 years it was [a matter of] learning to work with the ESA, of launching a range of activities that didn’t exist in Portugal” in the space sector, he explained. “This boosted scientific activity but above all the activity of companies that didn’t exist in Portugal and of companies that grew. “Now that we’ve shown what we can do, we want to extend our participation, launch new challenge to the Atlantic and for that we need to have a more adequate and modern management and system of governance.”
The president of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Paulo Ferrão, who is accompanying the minister on the trip to Switzerland on Thursday and Friday, also said that “certainly next year” officials will study “the viability of creating a space agency” in Portugal. Realising this goal, he said, was “dependent on various happenings”, such as the creation in the Azores of the planned International Research Centre of the Atlantic. Portugal has been a member of the ESA since 14 November of 2000.
