The Minister for Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, has visited the facilities in Villanueva de la Cañada (Madrid) of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), which houses the scientific operations centres of the Agency’s planetary and astronomy missions in Spain.
During her visit, the minister toured the SMOS mission control room, which measures soil moisture and ocean salinity as part of ESA’s Earth Observation Programme. These operations have been carried out at the European Space Astronomy Centre since 2009, as this mission has an important Spanish contribution.
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Diana Morant visits the European Centre for Space Astronomy
Morant also visited the CESAR educational project room, aimed at the education and training of students and teachers in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics); the XMM-Newton space telescope control room; and the hall with exhibitions on ESA’s current missions.
ESAC, ESA’s establishment in Spain
ESAC is one of ESA’s seven establishments in its 22 Member States and its facilities are used for innovative discoveries in astrophysics, heliophysics and planetary science.
One of the activities carried out at ESAC, in collaboration with the Astronaut Training Centre (EAC), is the coordination of activities for the promotion of astronauts in our country and Portugal.
The Government increases its annual contribution to ESA by 100%.
Since 2017, the Government of Spain has increased its contribution to ESA by 100%, from 150 million euros to the 300 million euros of annual contribution that our country currently allocates.
This contribution boosts space research and translates into more opportunities for the Spanish industry and companies in the space sector in our country.
Spain plays a very important role in ESA’s science missions and leads ARRAKIHS, the Agency’s Science Programme mission to study dark matter in the universe. Our country also makes an outstanding contribution to astronomical research, an area in which it takes advantage of the unparalleled conditions of the Spanish skies.