Finland joins NASA’s Artemis Accords and secures millions in ESA funding for space technology development
Aalto University is hosting the new space event Winter Satellite Workshop at Dipoli building in Otaniemi, Espoo from Tuesday to Thursday 21-23 January for the seventh time. Today at the conference, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the Phi-Lab Finland innovation programme and Finland joined the US space agency NASA’s Artemis Accords.
Developed and funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), the Phi-Lab consortium aims to commercialise space technology. In Finland, the consortium is coordinated by Aalto University, with the participation of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the National Land Survey of Finland and the University of Vaasa. According to Tomi Erho, Director of Innovation Services at Aalto University, Head of Innovation Ecosystem Services at Aalto University, the consortium will support the selected projects financially, but especially with research expertise and infrastructure.
‘The projects selected for ESA Phi-Lab Finland will focus in particular on remote sensing technologies and environmental monitoring applications, as well as the development of navigation technologies. In these areas the Finnish space sector has rapidly developed into an international leader, and there is also a big commercial opportunity in Finland,’ says Erho.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is providing €5.2 million in funding for this six-year project, of which €4.4 million will go directly to financial support for selected projects. The total budget of the activity is around €11 million and is supported by ESA, the Technology Industries of Finland Centennial Foundation, the KAUTE Foundation and the Weisell Foundation. The first round of applications will begin shortly .
Finland joins Moon and Mars agreement
Today Finland has joined NASA's Artemis Accords to operate on the Moon and Mars. The agreement commits to a common set of rules for operating in outer space, including the Moon, comets and asteroids, and in the orbits of the Moon and Earth all the way to Mars.
‘There is a lot going on in the space sector at the moment, which is reflected in the wide range of programmes at the conference. The sector is growing and the need for experts is increasing. Finland is updating its space strategy, which is a big deal for the growing business sector and will enable the development of new innovations for more sustainable space activities,’ says Professor Jaan Praks, chairman of the event.
More than 40 companies and institutions will present themselves at the event. The programme will include more than 300 presentations and many workshops, meetings and an exhibition. See the full programme at:
Photos from the event
Photos: Ira Matilainen/Aalto University.
The history of radio technology is remarkable – development of the field faster than ever
The first professorship in radio engineering started in Finland exactly 100 years ago. Instead of August 2024, the celebrations will take place in January 2025 at the Winter Satellite Workshop, the largest new space event in the Nordic and Baltic countries.
Read more news
Herd immunity may not work how we think
A new study from researchers at Aalto University suggests that our picture of herd immunity may be incomplete — and that understanding how people are connected could be just as important as knowing how many are immune.
Aalto computer scientists in ICML 2025
Department of Computer Science papers accepted to International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)
Satellite images reveal the positive effects of restoration in the northern hemisphere peatlands
Satellite data spanning over 20 years shows that the temperature and albedo of restored peatlands begin to resemble those of intact peatlands within about a decade