APOGEE STAFF
Spain aims to declare its new space command operational by February 2025, streamlining its space defense collaboration and training with allies France, Germany and the United States, as well as with NATO and European Union space agencies.
A news release on the timeline from the Ministry of Defence said, “collaboration is essential, both now and in the future.” The new agency, Mando del Espacio or MEPSA, was activated in January 2024 as part of the Spanish Air and Space Force during a visit to its new headquarters by Spain’s Defence Minister Margarita Robles. MEPSA is based at Torrejón de Ardoz Air Base in Madrid.
Robles and MEPSA emphasized the importance of working with Spain’s robust private space industry to bolster its defense capabilities. Brig. Gen. Isaac Manuel Crespo Zaragoza, chief of the space command, spoke of “a commercial exploitation that has revolutionized everything,” according to the news release.
“There are companies developing orbit launchers … chemical and electrical propulsion systems, critical equipment for on space probes, satellites and constellations, with many participating in international projects,” Spanish space lawyer Rafael Harillo wrote for SpaceNews in December 2023.
Creation of the new military command comes on the heels of the civilian space agency established by Spain in March 2023, Agencia Espacial Española (AEE). The AEE falls under the authority of both the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Ministry of Defence. These moves mark a consolidation in Spain’s long history of space activity, dating to early partnerships on the first U.S. space missions and its fundamental contributions to the European Space Agency and predecessors.