the Commission announced the results of 2023–2024 space-related calls for proposals under Horizon Europe. As part of Horizon Europe Cluster 4 – Space, €76 million will be committed to support 28 space research projects implemented by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) and the EU Space Programme Agency (EUSPA).
The selected projects will bring breakthrough innovations and contribute to strengthening both the European Union Space programme and other space research priorities in various domains, from Earth observation to EGNSS and secure telecommunications.
The selection will boost the Union’s competitiveness and technological non-dependency also by developing new services and downstream applications for Copernicus, Galileo and EGNOS, and GOVSATCOM.
The industrial consortia behind these 28 projects involve a large proportion of New Space companies, as start-ups and SMEs represent around 1/3 of the selected participants, receiving 30% of the allocated funding.
Space-related projects are expected to receive close to €1.9 billion in total during the seven years of the implementation of Horizon Europe, corresponding to an average of €270 million per year, including activities delegated to ESA.
Discover some of the selected projects:
GESTUSAs part of the 2023 Horizon Europe calls for Space, the call managed by EUSPA, the EU Agency for the Space Programme, included a topic for developing EGNSS applications for a green, smart and more secure society. Project GESTUS was successfully ranked and the related Grant Agreement has just been signed. GESTUS aims at improving the health of patients with degenerative and neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s. It will allow monitoring their body movements in order to better monitor the evolution of the disease and the effect of the treatments. GESTUS will receive a grant of €1.4M.
COASTSAs part of the 2023 Horizon Europe calls for Space, the call managed by EUSPA, the EU Agency for the Space Programme, included a topic for developing Copernicus applications for businesses and policymakers. 4 projects were successfully ranked and the related Grant Agreements have just been signed. Among them is project COASTS, which aims at mapping, modelling and monitoring coastal zones through Copernicus Earth observation data, focusing on the impact of human activity and climate change. This will allow better coastal planning and coastal management strategies. COASTS will focus on pilot sites in Germany, Jersey and the Maldives and its results will be available for replication elsewhere. COASTS will receive a grant of close to €2.0M.
REINFORMAs part of the 2023 Horizon Europe calls for Space, the call managed by EUSPA, the EU Agency for the Space Programme, included a topic for developing EGNSS and Copernicus applications with international partners. 6 projects were successfully ranked and the related Grant Agreements have just been signed. Among them is project REINFORM. It will take place in Australia, where it will map and monitor irrigation systems in order to reduce the volume of water used for agriculture. REINFORM will receive a grant of €1.0M.
CLMS CitiesAs part of the 2024 Horizon Europe calls for Space, the call managed by HaDEA, the Health and Digital Executive Agency, included a topic for the evolution of the Copernicus Land & Water Services. Two projects were successfully ranked and the related Grant Agreements have just been signed. One of these projects is CLMS-Cities. Achieving climate neutrality requires a city that has joint the EU Mission on “Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities” (the Cities Mission) to reduce the Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions from all sectors within the city’s boundary to net zero by 2030. The Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) assists those cities in monitoring the efficiency of their efforts towards climate neutrality. CLMS-Cities aims to improve CLMS with new elements and products capable of being integrated into land planning decisions with regard to climate change mitigation. CLMS-Cities will receive a grant of €2.0M.
PUMAAs part of the 2024 Horizon Europe calls for Space, the call managed by HaDEA, the Health and Digital Executive Agency, included a topic for the development in Europe of critical space technologies for which Europe should be non-dependent and competitive. Six projects were successfully ranked and the related Grant Agreements have just been signed. Among them is project PUMA. PUMA aims at maturing European FGPA technologies. A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is a type of configurable integrated circuit that can be repeatedly programmed after manufacturing. It is very useful for in-space operations, but it must be made resistant to damage or malfunction caused by high levels of ionizing radiation. PUMA will test and validate such a resistant European FGPA. PUMA will receive a grant of close to €3.1M.
THEIAAs part of the 2024 Horizon Europe calls for Space, the call managed by HaDEA, the Health and Digital Executive Agency, included a topic for the evolution of the Copernicus Security Service. Two projects were successfully ranked and the related Grant Agreements have just been signed. Amongst them is project THEIA. Addressing critical challenges such as population displacement due to conflicts, exacerbated by factors like climate change, extreme weather events, food shortages, and poverty, remains paramount. THEIA aims to improve the Copernicus Security Service to achieve just that. It will receive a grant of €4.0M.