© ESA / NASA

How space technology is moving the energy transition forward

Data from space can help to speed up the energy transition and to combat climate change on Earth. The Federal Government’s new Space Strategy sets out how this can work.

Since the last Space Strategy ran off the printing presses in 2010, the world has moved on a long way, both on the ground and in space. A significantly different geopolitical situation, rapid commercialisation of space flight, and changes to our planet’s climate have caused the Federal Government to revise the Space Strategy.
The nine fields of action of the new Space Strategy, which was published at the end of September 2023, are designed to respond to the new challenges of our time and to the significant rise in the relevance of space flight.

Focus on the specific benefits for people

The Federal Government’s space policy is focused on the actual benefits for people. The strategy says that space technology has to compete with other fields of technology and be judged by whether the spending can be expected to generate an appropriate scientific, societal or commercial benefit.
Space technology offers many opportunities for the energy transition and for climate change mitigation. If there had never been any space programmes, for example, we would now have a much less clear understanding of climate change, and of the crisis it is unleashing. Satellite-based earth observation provides the data we need in order to monitor climate changes and climate-change impacts.

Satellite data provide support in many areas

Satellite data support the monitoring of ecosystems and are used for example to help preserve wetlands and riparian landscapes and return them to their natural state. A lot of research work is being done with the assistance of space technology. Germany has made an important contribution towards this in the shape of the EnMAP climate satellite, which was launched in 2022. EnMAP is designed to collect information about the status and development of ecosystems. The satellites of the Copernicus Programme of the EU and the European Space Agency (ESA) provide important information here.
The Space Strategy also fosters the transition to sustainable, climate-adapted agriculture, fisheries and forestry. Satellite data can for example identify the precise need for fertiliser and plant protection products on arable land. Furthermore, satellite data provide important indications of the optimal location of solar installations and wind turbines, and this will mean that space technology will be playing an even more important role in the energy supply in future.
The GRACE-C mission aims to enable climate researchers to measure global groundwater resources even more precisely from space.

High-resolution satellite measurements of the atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration can for example determine the strength of emissions from local CO2 and methane sources. © ESA

This is how precise space-based measurement can help

One of twelve key projects presented in the Space Strategy is precise emissions measurement from space: this can help to systematically reduce emissions which damage the climate. Further to this, an integrated Greenhouse Gas Monitoring System is to be established for Germany.

Starting with a CO₂ monitoring mission from 2026, the Copernicus satellite fleet is to be expanded to include six more Expansion Sentinel missions in the period to 2028. The Merlin Franco-German satellite mission, which is already under development, is to carry out high-precision global methane measurements from 2028. Together, they can give significant help towards our efforts to achieve the European Green Deal and to attain Europe’s climate targets, and uphold Europe’s leading position in the field of earth observation. At the international level, too, Germany is working to highlight space programmes’ importance for environmental protection, nature conservation and climate action, and for climate change adaptation.

European and global cooperation are a must

Germany has been a member of the European Space Agency (ESA) since it was founded in 1975. 21 other European countries are now also members. Because this makes it possible to spread the high costs of a large number of space missions across many shoulders, and to draw on the expertise of many countries, Europe is now a world leader thanks to ESA’s earth observation programme and the Copernicus programme, which is cofunded by the EU.
Further to this, cooperation is essential both within Europe and beyond, so that we can cope with the many highly complex space missions. This is true for example of the revolutionary James Webb space telescope, which has been developed jointly by the U.S., Canada and the ESA, and for manned lunar missions, on which these three partners are working along with Japan and other countries.