The Matosinhos Manifesto, a manifesto on the use of space in Europe, was approved by the European Space Agency (ESA) on November 19, 2021. The council of ministers of ESA unanimously adopted the resolution at the intermediate ministerial meeting (IMM) held in Matosinhos, Portugal.
The Matosinhos Manifesto lays down a vision for the continent in terms of maintaining and expanding its activities in space. It would intercept the urgent and unprecedented societal, economic, and security challenges faced by Europe and its citizens.
The IMM was a milestone on the road to the European Space Summit to be held in Toulouse, France, in February 2022.
Accelerators The resolution defines the following three ‘accelerators’ to further advance the space ambitions of Europe.
- The ESA would start working towards the first accelerator, ‘Space for a Green Future’, to help people understand the current state of the planet and enable them to develop scenarios and solutions for sustainable life on Earth. This is in line with achieving net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets by the year 2050.
- The second accelerator, ‘Rapid and Resilient Crisis Response’, aims to support governments to act decisively on crises facing Europe—from flooding and storms to wildfires.
- The third accelerator, ‘Protection of Space Assets, is to safeguard ESA astronauts and assets from interference by space debris and space weather.
Inspirators To reinforce European leadership in science, technology development, and inspiration, the council has recognised two ‘inspirators’: an icy moon sample return mission and space exploration.
The three accelerators and two inspirators are steps for Europe to fully use space for its citizens in order to create economic opportunities.
The resolution to accelerate the use of space in Europe strongly supports the vision of the ESA Director General’s ‘Agenda 2025’ to build on Europe’s excellence in space and to realise its full potential.
Experts say that the large-scale nature and fast pace of the climate crisis and other challenges mean that no European nation would be able to effectively address them alone. So, the enormous untapped potential of the space has to be tapped by accelerating development of European space capability as a whole.
European Space Agency The ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, formed in 1975, to develop Europe’s space capabilities.
The organisation has 22 member-states: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Slovenia, Latvia, and Lithuania are Associate Members.
The ESA has established formal cooperation with six member-states of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a cooperation agreement.
ESA undertakes programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as well as with Eumetsat for the development of meteorological missions.
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