Being a major player in the European space industry, GMV attended the 15th European Space Conference held in Brussels on 24 and 25 January.

This year’s event, featuring the slogan “Securing the future of Europe in space,” once again brought together leading political representatives, international agencies and institutions, as well as important members of the space industry. Over two days, the participants took stock of the industry’s achievements in the last year and the challenges still to come.

GMV was a sponsor of this year’s event and participated in two sessions. Enrique Fraga, GMV’s Space System General Manager, took part in the session on IRIS² (a highly secure satellite connectivity system that will foster digital autonomy) “IRIS2: A new European flagship for new challenges,” which addressed the most critical challenges that will have to be faced to achieve the required success of the European secure connectivity system. The session also touched on the need for the most open competition possible, in order to guarantee optimal collaboration between primes, operators, start-ups and mid-caps. All this with an agile and interactive approach, but with total confidence so as to make up lost ground and ensure not only European sovereignty, but also the competitiveness of the space industry ecosystem.

For his part, Miguel Romay, GMV’s Navigation System General Manager, spoke in the session entitled “Satellite Navigation: Towards an updated generation supporting European sovereignty and resilience,” in which he highlighted the success of the European navigation programs EGNOS and Galileo and pointed out some aspects where GMV is contributing to the innovation and future of these systems. Miguel Romay also stressed the importance of evolving SBAS towards service provision, which is possible thanks to developments in the current systems. He also spoke on the importance of high-precision services with integrity, which will enable advanced applications such as autonomous driving. Finally, he ended his speech by underlining the importance of ensuring the availability of navigation services, for which the development of new systems and signals is key, supporting the LEOPNT initiative promoted by ESA and other European institutions.

GMV is a pioneer in the development of GNSS systems and a leader in Europe, as well as a European leader in avionics and guidance, navigation, and control systems for satellites and launchers. More than 900 satellites and space vehicles include GMV-developed technology, making the company a key player in Europe’s space industry.