AEE — Agencia Espacial Española

Overview

The Agencia Espacial Española (AEE) is Spain's national space agency, created in March 2023 and headquartered in Seville — the first major Spanish state agency deliberately located outside Madrid. It unified responsibilities that had been scattered across ministries and the CDTI technology agency, giving one of ESA's largest contributors a single voice at last.

Spain's orbital assets punch above the agency's youth: the PAZ radar imager (2018) flies in formation with Germany's TerraSAR-X pair, and the SpainSat NG secure-communications satellites — among the most advanced military comsats in Europe — began launching in 2025. The commercial frontier is Spanish too: PLD Space's Miura 1 became the first privately built European rocket to fly in October 2023, with the orbital Miura 5 preparing to launch from Kourou.

Quick Facts

Key Programmes

ESA coordination

Spain is among ESA's largest contributors, hosting the Cebreros deep-space antenna and the ESAC science centre near Madrid; the AEE now manages that national contribution.

PAZ & Earth observation

The PAZ radar satellite (2018) delivers all-weather imaging in constellation with TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X. The Ingenio optical satellite was lost in a 2020 Vega failure — a driver for renewed national investment.

SpainSat NG

Two new-generation secure communications satellites for government use, with SpainSat NG I launched in January 2025 — among Europe's most sophisticated.

Miura launchers

PLD Space's Miura 1 suborbital rocket flew in 2023; the orbital Miura 5 targets flights from the European spaceport in French Guiana, aiming to make Spain a launch nation by the commercial route.

Atlantic constellation

A joint Spanish–Portuguese small-satellite Earth-observation constellation in development.

Launch Vehicles

Timeline