On 13 December 2022, the minister of economy, Franz Fayot, unveiled Luxembourg’s space policy and strategy for 2023-2027. Highlights include an increase of 21.6% in investments relative to the previous 5-year period and an additional focus on sustainable space activities.
Since joining the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2005, Luxembourg has reviewed its space policy and strategy every couple of years. On 13 December 2022, the time was right again to present the newest strategy to Mario Grotz, chairman of the board of directors of the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) and its CEO Marc Serres.
The next period’s objective revolves around the following 4 axes:
- The sustainability of economic activities;
- The sustainability of activities on Earth;
- The sustainability of activities in Space;
- The sustainable use of space resources.
“The renewed strategy for the next 5 years will focus on the development of industrial competencies in areas that will contribute to the objectives of sustainable development, support Luxembourg’s development cooperation and humanitarian action, or contribute to the development of other economic sectors of interest to the Grand Duchy,” explained Franz Fayot, minister of economy.
Next to keeping sustainability front and centre, Luxembourg also wants to continue actively developing the space sector as “a vector of diversification and perpetuation of the Luxembourg economy,” as stated in their press release.
To ensure that Luxembourg meets these goals, the government, through participation in ESA programmes and the LuxIMPULSE programme, succeeded in earmarking €256M for the following five-year period. This represents an increase of 21.6% in investments relative to the previous period.
While the commitment to developing Luxembourg’s space sector goes back to the 1980s, it’s especially in the last decade, with new initiatives such as SpaceResources.lu, the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) and the European Space Resources Innovation Centre (ESRIC), that Luxembourg’s space ecosystem has been put on the map. Not to mention the increasing number of space startups establishing their HQs in Luxembourg.
Today, Luxembourg is home to just over 70 public and private players, up from around 20 in 2016. In terms of employment, the latest statistics indicate that the sector employs just over 1,400 people (companies and public research organisations), which represents a doubling in the size of the ecosystem since 2016.
