Portugal and the European Space Agency (ESA) signed this Thursday, November 27, in Germany, the agreement for the landing of the inaugural flight of the Space Rider shuttle in Santa Maria, in the Azores, scheduled for 2028.
The agreement was signed in Bremen, where the ESA Ministerial Council ends today, with Portugal being represented by the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation, Fernando Alexandre.
Em statementa Portuguese Space Agency, which coordinates national participation in ESA, states that the choice of Santa Maria as the landing site for the inaugural Space Rider flight “reinforces the strategic role of the Azores in the European context and is part of a broader vision of creating a multifaceted space hub on the island, which also includes space access initiatives to be installed in Santa Maria”.
The inaugural flight of the Space Rider, which will take off from French Guiana, carrying on board a radiation experiment from the Experimental Particle Physics and Instrumentation Laboratory, is now scheduled for 2028, after having been announced for 2027.
It is a reusable, unmanned space vehicle designed for short-term missions in low orbit for experiments in microgravity, technological demonstrations and the eventual deployment of small satellites, then returning to Earth.
The Azores spaceport will operate on the island of Santa Maria, the first licensed in Portugal, where the consortium that will explore it hopes to start launching orbital flights to place satellites in 2027.
Portugal has committed to strengthening its participation in ESA, of which it has been a member state for 25 years, with 204.8 million euros for the period 2026-2030, a budget that includes infrastructure for the landing of the Space Rider.