The European Parliament has finalised a new €14.8 billion seven-year EU space program, which will for the first time bring together all EU space activities under one roof. Running the space program under a single regulation is intended to get rid of redundancy and overlaps between the European Space Agency and the European Commission. The goal is to make the EU a global player in space, rivaling the position of the US and China.

The programme will support existing EU space initiatives, such as Galileo and Copernicus, as well as some new tools for space surveillance and satellite communications. €9.1 billion will fund the satellite navigation system Galileo, and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay service, which supplements Galileo’s observations by double-checking the accuracy of its positioning data. Another €5.42 billion will be invested in the Copernicus earth observation system, to run services monitoring the atmosphere, marine and land environments, climate, emergencies and security.

All this will be overseen by three institutions. The Commission will manage the overall programme; the new EU Agency in Prague for the Space Programme (EUSPA) will manage Galileo and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service; while the European Space Agency will be responsible for research and development.