https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Corporate_news/Spain_celebrates_ESA_heritage_with_substantial_plans_for_the_future

Spain celebrates ESA heritage with substantial plans for the future
16/10/2025

The European Space Agency's presence in Spain is set to be strengthened, while more than a dozen contracts with Spanish industry were signed on Thursday.
The Spanish space agency, the Agencia Espacial Española (AEE), signed a new letter of intent with ESA and joined the zero-debris charter during a day of celebrations of ESA's 50th anniversary at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) near Madrid. 
Noting that the country's contribution to ESA has grown by 50% in the last seven years, Spain's Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, and President of the AEE, Diana Morant said: "[ESA] is one of the clearest expressions of the common European project, demonstrating that scientific cooperation is also a tool for peace, prosperity and social cohesion. Thanks to its work, space has become a resource at the service of all people." 

The new letter of intent will allow for potential areas of development at ESAC, as well as its reinforcement as a leading scientific reference centre. 
Data from space missions that is accessible through ESAC supports thousands of researchers and hundreds of scientific papers every year.  

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said: "Spain is an extremely important and active Member State of ESA; they have shown excellent leadership in the Atlantic Constellation and they are a driving force of European Resilience from Space. ESAC is a focal point and an enabler of Spanish activities in ESA, and with this letter of intent, we investigate potential areas of further development at ESAC, based on evolving strategic priorities and emerging opportunities."

In a similar vein, looking to the future of space, the AEE signed the Zero Debris Charter, a community initiative to advance space safety. The Spanish space agency joins more than 180 other signatories, including 20 national governments.
To work on reducing the debris already in low Earth orbit, ESA and the AEE confirmed their intent to collaborate on the CApTure Payload Bay (CAT) in-orbit demonstration. 
The proposed mission will be considered by ESA Member States as part of the Ministerial Council in November.  
In addition, Spain has increased its support for the Spanish Space Surveillance and Tracking (S3T) project that implements space debris detection and space surveillance operations with ESA's support.

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