Two decades have passed since the cooperation agreement between the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) regarding the use by both organizations of the facilities of the Canary Islands Space Center located in Maspalomas. The agreement, which began after the signing of the agreement in 2000, establishes the terms of collaboration between both institutions for the joint use of the facilities available at the CEC of Maspalomas in order to satisfy the needs of current and future space programs in the field of satellite Earth exploration and space research.
The Canary Islands Space Center, built in the 60s by NASA to monitor the Mercury and Gemini programs, has been property of INTA since 1975 and has expanded since then with numerous facilities, including the COSPAS-SARSAT nodal center in rescue and rescue, a center for reception, processing, archiving and distribution of Earth observation images (CREPAD), two 10-meter diameter antennas for receiving data from Earth observation satellites, a 15-meter antenna in diameter, property of ESA, for monitoring, remote control and telemetry, especially for scientific satellites and for ATV launches using the Ariane V, as well as various antennas for national and international programs.
The CEC provides services to companies and institutions such as HISPASAT, HISDESAT, EUMETSAT, the Japanese Space Agency JAXA and, since the 80s, the ESA centers ESOC and ESRIN. The agreement with the European Space Agency constitutes the framework for relations between INTA and ESA in two fundamental areas of the space sector: Earth observation through a contract with ESRIN for the joint use of INTA facilities (a 10 meters and CREPAD) for the reception, archiving and distribution of data from Earth observation satellites such as ERS, ALOS, SPOT or LANDSAT and space research through a contract with ESOC for the monitoring of the four CLUSTER satellites with the 15 meter antenna. It also establishes the bases for collaboration in future Spanish and ESA national programs through the joint use of the CEC. This collaboration may be of particular importance for the National Earth Observation Satellite Program with satellites such as PAZ.