The Greek government is planning a new 350-million-euro space technologies programme at a time when Europe is increasingly positioning space as a critical pillar of security, resilience, and strategic autonomy.
The funding has been included in the proposed revision of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0”, submitted on May 8 during the final implementation phase of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The proposal was approved by Alternate Minister of National Economy and Finance Nikos Papathanasis and Minister of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence Dimitris Papastergiou.
Specifically, the initiative concerns the expansion of Greece’s National Microsatellite Programme through the deployment of secure satellite connectivity systems and space infrastructure designed to support national defence, civil protection, maritime operations, agriculture, and other strategic sectors of the economy.
At the same time, the existing 200-million-euro National Microsatellite Programme is nearing completion, having played a significant role in expanding Greece’s space technology ecosystem. The domestic market is now recording double-digit growth rates, while international companies such as Open Cosmos and ICEYE have established production facilities in Greece. These facilities are intended not only to support the country’s space programme but also to manufacture microsatellites and related subsystems for export markets. According to industry sources, the number of companies operating in the sector has increased by approximately 20%.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is expected to play a central role in the new programme, as it did in the implementation of the initial initiative. The funding is expected to be transferred to ESA, which will oversee the relevant procurement and tendering procedures.
This implementation model not only delivers advanced space capabilities to Greece but also generates industrial activity for companies operating in the country. Under the first programme, ESA ensured that approximately 30% of the project value was executed by companies active in the Greek market. Industry stakeholders suggest that this share could rise to nearly 50% under the new programme.
Discussions regarding Greece’s next steps are taking place amid a rapidly evolving European space landscape. A recent report published by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme indicates that European space policy is gradually shifting from the development of standalone satellite infrastructure towards the creation of an integrated ecosystem of data services, secure communications, and operational capabilities supporting critical governmental and economic functions, including defence applications.
Geopolitical instability, the pursuit of strategic autonomy, the protection of critical infrastructure, climate change, and crisis management are emerging as key drivers of Europe’s new space strategy. Within this framework, the European Union increasingly views Galileo, Copernicus, IRIS², secure satellite communications services, and space situational awareness systems not as separate programmes, but as components of a unified architecture supporting security, civil protection, transportation, energy, telecommunications, and the digital economy.
This strategic shift is also reflected in market forecasts. According to EUSPA, the global market for applications and services based on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)—including Europe’s Galileo, the United States’ GPS, China’s BeiDou, and Russia’s GLONASS—is expected to grow from approximately 300 billion euros in 2024 to 580 billion euros by 2034. Growth is increasingly being driven not by hardware sales but by value-added services built on satellite-generated data.
Meanwhile, the Earth Observation (EO) services market is projected to more than double over the next decade, expanding from approximately 3.5 billion to 7.9 billion. EUSPA highlights growing demand driven by climate change adaptation, critical infrastructure protection, precision agriculture, the energy transition, and natural disaster management.
It should be noted that Greece’s first national programme has focused primarily on Earth observation microsatellites.
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