Portugal’s growth in space sciences
Portugal only joined ESA and ESO at the turn of the present century. Despite the late entry, Portuguese society quickly became integrated in the initiatives, mainly through the efforts of scientists and technological companies.
In the second half of the 20th century, after one of the most troubled periods in European history, several decisive initiatives for scientific and technological cooperation on the continent emerged, with emphasis on large intergovernmental organisations. CERN has been a pioneer since 1954 in the area of particle physics; the ESO and the ESA came later, focused respectively upon space and space sciences. All share an important contribution to the development of fundamental sciences. This year, the ESO celebrates 60 years since its foundation in 1962, offering us an opportunity to highlight the impressive scientific discoveries it has made, and its efforts to address today’s challenges.
April’s newsletter is dedicated to Science, with emphasis on space sciences, including planetary sciences, astronomy, and microgravity, among others. These fields can only be considered given the participation of ESA and ESO. These organisations constitute unique tools to enable the construction of infrastructures and instrumentation, essential to obtain data for the evolution of scientific knowledge. However, in addition to their scientific potential, their contribution to cooperation between countries and communities also stands out: they act as focal points for the pooling of resources and political articulation, to reach horizons that would be unfeasible for any European country alone.
Portugal only joined these organisations at the turn of the present century, during the year 2000. Despite the late entry, Portuguese society quickly became integrated in the initiatives, mainly through the efforts of scientists and technological companies. Today, Portuguese entities in the field publish and compete at a global level, contributing to extend the frontier of knowledge and promote innovation in the context of space. This edition of the newsletter will therefore provide a sample of the various national success stories that have emerged over the last few years.
Portugal has gradually expanded its institutional support for the development of space sciences. Among various examples, the subscription and reinforcement of the ESA’s Prodex programme in 2016 and 2019 is noteworthy. This programme allows supporting national participation in the development of instrumentation for ESA scientific missions, through collaboration between companies and universities. More recently, in 2021, Portugal joined as a founding member of the SKAO organisation, in the area of radio astronomy, partly as a result of the preparatory work of the scientific community that has been consolidated in recent decades.
Looking ahead, the ESA Ministerial meeting in November represents an important milestone to enhance the impact of space science in the coming decades. One of the decision points is the level of resourcing for the mandatory programme. This includes the first phase of Voyage 2050, the new strategic plan for ESA’s science programme. In this context, the recent proposal of a High Level Group launched by the ESA Director General is also worth highlighting. This group proposed inspiring projects in the European context; one of them, the “Icy Moon Sample Return Mission,” sets the fascinating challenge of searching for life in space.
Portugal Space has acted hand-in-hand with the space science community, and 2022 will be another year with several relevant projects underway, and several opportunities for dissemination and debate. The examples presented in the newsletter already naturally promote reflection on some of the present challenges, priorities, programmatic instruments, industry relations, and dissemination of information, all of which are naturally interconnected with the challenges of national science. Thus, we hope that this edition will also be an inspiring contribution.
