ESA title

Space Is Open For Business

The vision of ESA Business Applications is to improve the lives of people on Earth through Space. We make this possible by enabling and supporting businesses in the short-term commercialisation and application of Space data and technology for everyday services.

In order to achieve this, the following objectives have been defined for ESA Business Applications activities:

  • Promotion of space applications to a wider range of users, especially those who are not aware of the benefits that space technologies can bring to them
  • Development of new operational services for these users, involving a broader participation by actors on both the demand and supply sides
  • Utilisation of one or more existing space-assets such as
    • Satellite Communications
    • Earth Observation
    • Satellite Navigation
    • Human Spaceflight technologies
    • and others

leading to a better exploitation of existing space capacity and know-how together with a better understanding of how they should evolve to meet user requirements

  • Cross-fertilisation across disciplines (e.g. impact of Climate on Health, on Energy, on Transport, etc...) together with the development of a consistent approach across our initiatives, to maximise their efficient and cost- effective implementation

Thematic Domains

ESA Business Applications projects offer solutions to problems that range from improving and securing transport systems to developing emergency and disaster management systems.

The programme will not push any particular technology, but will respond to users' needs, addressing a number of themes. The current set of Thematic are:

In consultation with and in response to the needs of users and stakeholders, further thematic areas will be explored and included in the course of the programme implementation. Additionally, cross-thematic areas such as the influence of climate on energy or health will also be addressed.

User engagement

ESA Business Applications always start from a set of user needs that relate to a specific problem or opportunity, rather than starting from a particular technological solution. User consultation meetings may be needed. They aim to specify the dedicated user needs, generate the related user requirements, and define the principle content of the studies.