Lisbon, July 28, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal secured €11 million in new contracts in the European space sector in the first quarter of 2025, of which €8.7 million were for European Space Agency (ESA) missions, the national space agency announced on Monday.

The figures are included in the Portuguese Space Agency's activity report for the first six months of the year, which highlights the new contracts with ESA secured by LusoSpace and FHP to supply components for the LISA mission, the first mission to observe gravitational waves, scheduled for launch in the 2030s.

According to the national agency, the contracts with these two Portuguese companies, worth a total of more than €6 million, represent the "largest volume of funding" contracted between ESA and Portugal "for a single mission" to date.

The balance sheet also highlights the increase in the Portuguese business universe linked to space, which now totals 87 companies with the creation of three new companies, two of which are subsidiaries of foreign companies that have set up on the Azorean island of Santa Maria and "will work on the development of in-orbit production technologies and in the launchers segment".

According to the Portuguese Space Agency, the participation of national companies in ESA programmes reached €110 million in contracts between 2019 and 2025.

Portugal has been a member state of ESA since 2000.

Alongside companies, the Portuguese space sector includes 46 research centres.

ER/AYLS // AYLS

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