Terrae Novae: from inspiring Europe’s generations to supporting its economic growth [Oct/2022]
The European Exploration Envelope Programme (E3P, branded
Terrae Novae in 2021) was created in 2016 to deliver Europe’s space exploration
strategy. The mission of Terrae Novae is to lead Europe’s human journey into
the Solar system using robots as precursors and scouts, and to return the
benefits of exploration back to society.
At the beginning of this decade, exploration is at
unprecedented crossroads. Leading countries are accelerating their investments,
the geopolitical context is unstable and changing while emerging countries and
private investors are scaling up efforts and gaining record momentum. Terrae
Novae Period 3 will continue to lead Europe’s human journey into the Solar
system and deliver benefits throughout the European economy and society.
A study by the consulting company Euroconsult was
conducted to update the 2019 socio-economic impact assessment of the
programme’s Period 2 (2019-2022). The scope of the analysis was put on the Period
3 (2022-2025), assessing the potential future benefits of the programme’s
activities on Europe’s industry, economy and society.
With more than €2.5 billion of contracts to industry (mostly concentrated in Period 3 (2023-2025) but with lower levels of funding distributed until 2030), the programme is expected to:
- Support economic growth and employment in Europe
The programme is expected to generate more than €2.8 billion of contribution to Europe’s GDP in terms of value added, more than €800 million of taxes and about 3,850 jobs supported per year, across the period 2023-2030.
- Position European stakeholders favourably to address future opportunities
Working on Terrae Novae missions have allowed European companies to access new markets, either geographic e.g., Thales Alenia Space developing modules in the US for Axiom’s commercial space station thanks to its work on the ISS and Gateway, or vertical e.g., ArianeGroup re-purposing the electric thrusters it developed for the Mars Sample Return (MSR) Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) mission for conventional satellites.
- Increase Europe’s strategic autonomy in space
An increasing number of components previously procured
outside of Europe are being replaced with European-made technologies. Terrae
Novae missions such as the European Large Logistics Lander (EL3) increase
end-to-end capabilities, reducing European reliance and opening opportunities
for European-led missions, including with international partners.
The full study report can be accessed in the restricted area here (please log in before).