What can a recently tested national spaceport licensing system contribute to a common European approach?

The Portuguese Space Agency has presented AEAAS from a practical national perspective. Portugal brings recent experience not only in drafting spaceport rules, but also in applying them to a launch centre in Santa Maria, in the Azores.
In 2024, Portugal revised its legal framework to establish a licensing route for spaceports. The following year, the Atlantic Spaceport Consortium-operated centre in Santa Maria received the country’s first spaceport licence after a technical assessment by the Agency. This gives AEAAS a valuable case through which to examine how regulation moves from legislation to implementation.

What does Portugal bring to the Alliance?

• A recent licensing framework designed specifically for spaceport activities.
• First-hand experience of technically assessing and licensing a launch centre.
• A national and international network that can connect AEAAS with sector actors, public authorities and experts.

A European test — not a single national model

AEAAS will combine this Portuguese experience with expertise from spaceport operators, launch service providers, legal teams, consultancies and public institutions across Europe. The Alliance includes 14 organisations from six jurisdictions and will examine more than 40 jurisdictions against 30 parameters.

The purpose is not to export one country’s rules. It is to identify which approaches work in practice, where fragmentation creates barriers and which elements can support safer, more sustainable and interoperable spaceport operations across Europe.

AEAAS at a glance

14 organisations

6 jurisdictions

40+ jurisdictions reviewed

30 assessment parameters

30 Jun 2027 final proposal

Why this perspective matters

Europe’s autonomous access to space depends on more than launch vehicles. It also requires launch infrastructure that can operate under clear, credible and compatible rules. Turning recent national experience into shared European evidence is therefore one of the most practical contributions AEAAS can make to the emerging European regulatory landscape.

As an associated partner, the Portuguese Space Agency will also support dissemination, awareness-raising and connections with relevant organisations. AEAAS is expected to deliver its final proposal by 30 June 2027, contributing to the wider European policy discussion around the forthcoming EU Space Act.

The question AEAAS will test: which national practices can become useful common reference points without ignoring the operational realities of different European spaceports?

Read the full article on the Portuguese Space Agency website