The launch of the European Union (EU) Space Policy in 2007 gave a new momentum to the\ud
implementation of the two European space flagship programmes Copernicus (Earth\ud
Observation) and Galileo (GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite System). Whereas Galileo is\ud
still in its deployment phase, Copernicus has already entered the exploitation phase. So far,\ud
roughly EUR 6 billion have been funded by the EU for the design and development of the\ud
two programmes and more than EUR 11 billion have been earmarked in the 2014-2020\ud
programming period.\ud
Key rationales for EU intervention in the space sector include: i) the need to develop an\ud
independent European space satellite infrastructure, ii) the advantage of putting together\ud
resources and expertise from ESA and Member States, and iii) the opportunity to benefit\ud
from the development of a satellite-based services and products that would contribute to\ud
the achievement of the Europe 2020 objectives