From left: Danny Gleeson, co-founder of Réaltra; Minister Emer Higgins, TD; Michael Martin, engineering manager, Réaltra and Marina Donohoe, head of research and innovation, Enterprise Ireland. Image: Coalesce Photography
The global space economy is growing at an annual pace of 9pc and is forecast to reach a staggering valuation of $1.8tn by 2035.
2023 was a big year for the Irish space industry, according to a new Enterprise Ireland report, which revealed that 109 Irish companies were actively engaged with the European Space Agency (ESA) by the end of last year.
In total in 2023, the ESA awarded €9.9m to Irish companies, which were further supported by €2.2m in industry co-funding. Companies were supported in developing products and technologies across various industries, including telecommunications, earth observation and space exploration, the report noted.
“The strong growth in Irish companies engaging with ESA, now reaching 109, is a clear indicator of Ireland’s expanding footprint in the global space economy,” said Marina Donohoe, the head of research and innovation at Enterprise Ireland.
The global space economy, valued at $630bn in 2023, is growing at an annual rate of 9pc and is forecast to reach a staggering valuation of $1.8tn by 2035. Enterprise Ireland highlighted this growth as opening up new opportunities for private companies to develop space-related products and services.
As part of maximising on that opportunity, last year saw the establishment of the Irish Space Association (ISA), a non-profit which aims to to support and showcase Ireland’s developing space industry.
Seven start-ups, including InfraPrint, ServBlock and Sports Impact Technologies, were supported by the Enterprise Ireland ESA Business Incubation Centre programme, which provides technical support, mentoring and up to €50,000 for companies that can demonstrate a tangible connection with space. The aim of the programme is to “empower entrepreneurship” and “enable local economies to benefit from space data, technologies and assets”, Enterprise Ireland said.
A key milestone for Irish space activity in 2023 was the successful launch of Ireland’s first ever satellite, the Educational Irish Research Satellite 1 (EIRSAT-1), from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in December.
EIRSAT-1 is a student-led project based at University College Dublin (UCD), supported by the ESA Academy’s ‘Fly Your Satellite!’ programme and was developed in collaboration with Irish technology companies. It carried payloads for gamma-ray astrophysics, advanced thermals materials, spacecraft control and an antenna deployment module – all of which were developed at UCD.
“This was truly an historic milestone for the Irish space sector,” said Leo Clancy, the CEO of Enterprise Ireland, “and with technology from Irish companies on board, is an excellent example of collaborative nature of the Irish space ecosystem.”
Earlier this year, the ESA launched the Ariane 6 rocket. On board the rocket were two key technologies – a video telemetry system and a global navigation satellite system – which were built by Dublin-based space engineering company Réaltra.
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