At the end of the application period, a consultative commission chaired by the Minister of Territorial Policy, Isabel Rodríguez, will prepare an opinion The headquarters will have 3,000 square meters, some 70 employees and must be less than an hour from an international airport The Government is going to allocate 4,500 million euros until 2025 to promote research and innovation in the aeronautical and space sector Some twenty towns in ten autonomous communities aspire to host the headquarters of the Spanish Space Agency and have formalized their candidacy within the deadline -which ends this Monday – One month that the Government opened for interested municipalities to apply to host this new body. Among the municipalities that have submitted their candidacy to host it are the cities of Huelva and Seville, in Andalusia; that of Teruel, in Aragon; Elche in the Valencian Community; The Gran Canarian palms; Cabanillas del Campo (Guadalajara), Yebes (Guadalajara), Puertollano and Ciudad Real in Castilla-La Mancha; the cities of León, Palencia and Cebreros (Ávila) in Castilla y León; the municipality of San Javier in Murcia; those of Tres Cantos and Robledo de Chavela, in Madrid; and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat in Catalonia. In addition to these municipalities, the Basque Country, which has defended the important space industry and the scientific and technological ecosystem of this community, has also made its candidacy official for having this headquarters, but has not proposed a specific location for the new body. Operational in 2023 The future Spanish Space Agency, which is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2023, is provided for in the new Law on Science and Technology and in the Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation ( Perte) Aerospace, an initiative with which the Government wants to mobilize some 4,500 million euros until 2025 to promote research and innovation in the aeronautical and space sector. Although the race to host this body officially began on October 5, when the order of the Ministry of Territorial Policy was published in the BOE in which the criteria to be n to take into account when choosing the venue, the struggle had already been unleashed from the moment its creation was announced and the Prime Minister announced that it would be located outside of Madrid. A struggle that has motivated each city to defend the benefits and the advantages that they perceive to be the headquarters of the Spanish Space Agency, but that has also brought out many territorial discrepancies and complaints: Teruel for feeling offended by the conditions that have been set; Huelva for considering that the Junta de Andalucía has leaned more towards Seville; or the Diputación de Alicante for not having participated in the presentation of Elche’s candidacy.Infrastructures, industrial fabric, aeronautical traditionThe Cabildo of Gran Canaria offers up to five different locations (also in the municipalities of Agüimes and Maspalomas), but the main option is a building in the Ciudad Jardín neighborhood of the capital of the island, and defends the synergies with the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) and the future stratoport for pseudo-satellite platforms and drones. Elche the city’s aerospace production fabric, with two of the most relevant companies in the sector at European level (Emxys and PLD Space); Seville the current strength of the aerospace industry and the strength of its innovation system; and Tres Cantos (Madrid) the ecosystems of entrepreneurship and innovation or access to air and land transport. L’Hospitalet de Llobregat has entered the competition with the endorsement also of the Generalitat of Catalonia, which until now had refused to host any of the newly created state agencies; Ciudad Real has defended its strategic position in the center of the peninsula and the broad institutional support that its candidacy has garnered; and San Javier, its aeronautical tradition and history. Cebreros (Ávila), the space exploration facilities and antennas it has had for decades (from NASA and ESA); Yebes (Guadalajara) -the smallest municipality of those who opt for the venue- its uniqueness as a place of astronomical observation and dissemination; o Cabanillas del Campo, its offer of means of transport and its proximity to the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport and the connection of this area with the University of Alcalá. Characteristics of the future headquarters The headquarters of the future Spanish Space Agency will occupy a space of about 3,000 square meters and it is planned to locate it in a place that has a wide network of access to public means of transport, especially high-speed trains and that is less than an hour from an international airport, according to the criteria established in the BOE. This international airport must have connections with Brussels and Paris, and preferably also with Amsterdam, Toulouse, Rome and Prague, destinations that the staff of that Agency will most likely visit, which the Government also wants to have close to a hotel environment and a “dynamic” business, educational and university sector. The most belligerent community against the criteria set by the Government or it has been that of Aragon, which has warned that many places in empty Spain -such as Teruel- have been discriminated against for decades and have not benefited from transport, hotel, industrial or educational infrastructures and today they can be penalized for not having of them. From the Government, the Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, has influenced the defense of the “objective” criteria that have been set to choose that headquarters, although they will not be the only ones that will be taken into account to choose that location, and in the Government’s commitment to decentralize institutions and organizations “to generate opportunities in all territories.” The Government wants it to be operational in the first quarter of 2023 -it already has a significant item in the Budget project for the next year-, and will initially require about seventy employees, including civil servants, labor and senior management positions. The Agency, which will have an important component dedicated to the security national authority, will coordinate national activities and policies on space, and will also be the public body that channels Spanish participation in international programs in this area. Once the deadline for submissions has expired, an advisory commission will be chaired by the Minister for Territorial Policy , Isabel Rodríguez, will prepare an opinion after analyzing all the candidacies, which may also include localities that have not applied, and will send her proposal to the Council of Ministers for final approval, within approximately one month.