Europe looks to data centres in orbit in €200m boost
The European Commission has announced 49 space projects with €200m of funding, including a project to put solar-powered data centres into orbit.
The research projects will be implemented by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) and the EU Space Programme Agency (EUSPA) to emphasise European access to space as well as future technologies such as quantum, space weather and space science.
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The ASCEND project aims to develop the installation of internet data centres in orbit to reduce the impact of digital technology on energy consumption and on climate warming. The €2.0m project will demonstrate that placing future data centre capacity in orbit, using solar energy outside the earth’s atmosphere.
The €17.0m CARIOQA project will prepare for the deployment of quantum gravimeters/accelerometers in space within the decade, through a Quantum Pathfinder Mission.
The ENLIGHTEN project is backed with €17.6m to develop low cost launcher engines based on Liquid Hydrogen using the latest advances in additive manufacturing to reduce the cost and number of engine parts. It will also use an Artificial Intelligence machine learning algorithm to develop the first space engine Health Monitoring System in Europe, necessary to implement reusability.
“Now more than ever, it is essential to ensure the independence of the EU for critical technologies, including in the space sector. The allocation of €200 million to space research projects under the 2021 and 2022 programming years of Horizon Europe is a major boost for the competitiveness and innovation of the space industry as well as for our technological non-dependency,” said Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton who has championed the EU space strategy.
“Research and innovation plays a key role in the aerospace sectors, fostering the fusion of science and technology in many areas, including weather and climate, metrology, mechanical and power engineering,” said Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.
“This Horizon Europe investment will contribute to build a strong knowledge-based entrepreneurial space ecosystem supporting the transformations towards a European digital-smart and sustainable economy.”
Space-related projects are expected to receive close to €1.6bn during the seven years of the implementation of Horizon Europe, which represents an average of €225m per year.
www.defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu
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