A three-pronged government support plan

Launched in January 2021, the space section of the France Recovery Plan led by Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy and Finance, focuses on three areas. One is cyclical and covers the additional costs of the Ariane 6 launcher programme. Another, with €150 million, is dedicated to financing dual space research. The aim is to prepare the 'technologies and skills needed for future dual space capabilities with new projects directly linked to the national industrial fabric in the field of telecommunications, earth observation and space surveillance'. The third axis is dedicated to the revival of the space industry affected by the crisis "while stimulating the sector around R&D projects, innovation and competitiveness objectives in order to strengthen their long-term positioning".

More than 200 applications processed by CNES

This third axis is broken down into several schemes. ArianeGroup has thus benefited from contracts to invest in its Vernon site "in the modernisation of its engine test benches" and "to set up a system for recovering hydrogen from its installations". With spin-offs for local companies. "Within the framework of the device dedicated to dual future technologies presenting a significant technical risk or allowing the maintenance of national skills deemed critical (known as "thematic calls for tender")", more than twenty projects have been selected. Most of these projects are led by SMEs and ETIs and the first contracts have already been signed with: EREMS, COMAT, MUQUANS, NANOXPLORE, SEREME, SODERN, STEEL ELECTRONIQUE and SYRLINKS. Part of the more than 200 applications examined by CNES in consultation with the steering committee.

Collaborative projects, space applications, nanosatellites

Within the framework of the "Calls for collaborative projects" aimed at "structuring the satellite industry upstream and reinforcing the pooling of precompetitive work and the subcontracting chain", four projects have just been validated on the following themes Optical Communications, Flexible Telecommunication Satellites, Broadband Satellite Terminals, Data Economy. "In addition to the lead partners AIRBUS DEFENCE & SPACE, THALES ALENIA SPACE and DAWEX, some thirty partners, start-ups, SMEs, ETIs and large groups will be involved in this work. The "Space applications: springboards for the economy and society" scheme is aimed at start-ups and SMEs with innovative service or product projects using space data.

Of the hundred or so projects submitted, 33 will win a prize, financed by France Relance, the amount of which (€100,000, €75,000 or €50,000) will depend on their ranking at the end of auditions ("pitch days") which will take place in the regions between 10 September and 19 November 2021. Finally, the "Nanosatellites Plan" has "nearly twenty applications currently being examined in the "In-Orbit Validation" call for projects, which was launched in partnership with the Occitanie Region". Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)