On Thursday 21 November we held our 2nd Annual Conference on Technological Trends, which in this new edition focused on ‘Technologies and Opportunities in the Space Industry’. At the Casa Salinas in Seville, we brought together more than 70 people, representatives of companies and organisations in the space sector in Spain, and over the course of four presentations and two round tables, we were able to take note of the interesting interventions of prominent executives whose companies are benchmarks in the sector. The day was also attended by the head of ATLAS, Macarena Márquez Piñero.
Thus, the day began with a speech by the Director General of CATEC, Joaquín Rodríguez Grau, thanking all those attending the conference for their presence, and especially the Director of the Spanish Space Agency (AEE), Juan Carlos Cortés, to whom he gave ‘special thanks for making the sector visible, for holding events to promote it and for establishing its headquarters in Seville’. He also thanked all the CATEC professionals for their work and their involvement in this event.
It was Cortes who gave the inaugural speech, and he did so by recalling Spain’s ‘space history’: ‘space activity in Spain dates back 65 years and it has been done well, proof of which is all that we have and the current strength of the sector. We are at a very good moment in the space sector’. Cortés reviewed the organisation of the AEE, as well as its objectives and lines of action, and placed special emphasis on the development of projects thanks to the aerospace PERTE. ‘The total investment in R&D&I generated directly or indirectly by this PERTE amounts to 4.5 million euros. It is the PERTE with the highest level of execution so far, the one that has executed projects the fastest,’ said Cortés.
Macarena Márquez (right) with Angelines Ortiz
‘Geointelligence : challenges and opportunities of satellite on-board computing and AI’ was the title of the first round table, moderated by Antidio Viguria, director of Avionics and Systems at CATEC, with the participation of executives José Antonio Álvarez de Arcaya, from Thales Alenia Space, Carlos Hernández Medel, from Telespazio Ibérica, Francisco Javier Real Gómez, from Indra Espacio, and Miguel Belló Mora, from Orbex. The executives discussed the challenges posed by the widespread use of these technologies, as well as the applications and success stories of their companies in geointelligence.
We continued with two individual expert presentations. First, with Luis Guerra Peña, VP Head of Airbus DS Space Systems, and then with Simone Centuori, CEO of Deimos Group. Guerra Peña addressed the outlook for the Spanish space sector, talking about the main current trends in the sector and where it is heading; while the circular economy and sustainability in the space sector was the focus of Centuori’s presentation. ‘Companies have to design our satellites and devices in an environmentally friendly way, so that they can be destroyed,’ said the italian.
