Porto, Portugal, April 15, 2025 (Lusa) - The Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) is on Tuesday and Wednesday hosting the 1st Space Education Summit, an initiative that aims to attract young people and demonstrate that "there is a future in Portugal" for the aerospace sector.
"We want to motivate, guide and demonstrate to young people that there is a future in Portugal for working in the aerospace sector," Emir Sirage, executive director of New Space Portugal, told Lusa.
Today and Wednesday, the FEUP is hosting the first edition of the Space Education Summit, an initiative that brings together the universities that are part of the New Space Portugal programme to debate the "present and future" of aerospace education in the country.
The initiative, aimed at students and professionals in the sector, aims to reflect on the challenges and opportunities of this industry, and its impacts in areas such as sustainability, security and defence.
"We are at a time of transformation and there are a number of engineering disciplines that contribute to this sector, such as electronics, electrotechnics, information systems and mechanics," emphasised Emir Sirage.
The event is being held as part of the New Space Portugal Agenda, funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and which brings together 39 organisations with the aim of designing, developing, producing and launching Earth observation satellites.
"We have been witnessing a transformation in the Portuguese aerospace sector driven by the New Space Portugal programme. This programme has already managed to position Portugal in the space market at European level," said Emir Sirage, adding that the aim of the programme is to make “Portugal a future European space hub”.
Emir Sirage gave as an example the Constelação do Atlântico (Atlantic Constellation) project, which has Geosat, CEiiA and the Portuguese Air Force as partners, and which involves the development, integration and launch of Earth observation and high-resolution optical satellites.
The project, he pointed out, "promotes national sovereignty in the area of space, defence, security and sustainability for the next decade".
Emir Sirage also emphasised that the country's commitment to the aerospace sector "fosters a better economy in Portugal, with innovative companies, highly qualified jobs for young professionals and for the future of promising young people, and better science".
The initiative, organised by FEUP, the universities of Aveiro, Minho, Évora and Beira Interior, Instituto Superior Técnico, Nova SBE - School of Business and Economics and the Air Force Academy, starts today at 2pm and ends on Wednesday at 1pm.
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