PRR and ESA Ministerial boost space sector in the second semester of 2025
The reprogramming of the PRR and the ESA Ministerial decisions gave new impetus to the Portuguese space sector in the second half of 2025, strengthening investment, European participation, and national capabilities. The sector ended the year with 87 companies, up from 81 at the end of 2024.
The second semester of 2025 confirmed a phase of acceleration in the space sector in Portugal, driven by increased public investment, strategic decisions at a European level, and advances in regulation, infrastructure, and national scientific and industrial capacity building. These and other data are included in the Winter Report released today by the Portuguese Space Agency.
The reprogramming of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) marked the semester. The increase in funding for the New Space Portugal Mobilising Agenda from €137 to €417 million contributed to this momentum, helping to create conditions to accelerate technological, industrial, and satellite-based service capabilities, with a multiplier effect on the ecosystem.
Alongside this, Portugal consolidated its position within the European Space Agency (ESA) at the 2025 Ministerial Council (CM25), with its largest-ever contribution, allocating €204.8 million for 2026-2030 (+51% compared with 2022). This effort reflects coordination across the government departments of Science, Defence, Economy, Infrastructure, and Environment, with contributions from the Regional Government of the Azores. During the meeting, the European Space Agency’s largest-ever budget, worth €22.3 billion, was approved.
As for national participation in programmes and the associated funding volume, at the end of 2025, contracts signed by Portuguese entities in ESA programmes totalled €23.4 million (data consolidated up to the third quarter), with projects such as the LISA mission and ARRAKIHS, an ESA mission to study galaxy halos and dark matter through extremely low brightness observations. Furthermore, €10.3 million has been invested in European Union initiatives.
The semester was also marked by advances in regulation and infrastructure, including the licensing of infrastructure for the first national spaceport in Malbusca, on the island of Santa Maria, and new steps in technical and scientific training, such as the UN-Portugal Outer Space Fellowship and EuroC. Also noteworthy was the operational launch of the ESA biobank at the GIMM facilities in Lisbon, as well as new licences and missions with national participation.
For further information, please also refer to the presentation on the Portuguese Space Ecosystem in the second semester (
