The University of Seville and Indra have presented at the Higher Technical School of Engineering (ETSI) the Chair of Space Surveillance, whose main objective is to promote excellence and talent in a strategic sector for national safety and technological development. For this, this chair will promote scientific research, promoting specialized training in new spatial technologies and facilitating the transfer of knowledge between the university and the industry.

The inauguration of the Indra Chair of Space Surveillance , the result of this strategic collaboration centered on research, training and technological transfer , involves advancing a fundamental terrain for safety and defense, since the field of space surveillance allows monitoring satellites and other objects in space, especially space garbage, supervising controlled and non -controlled redeeme terrestrial, and analyze asteroids close to the land that may have risks of collision.

Spain actively participates in the Eusst (Space Surveillance and Tracking) with an involvement of more than 20%. Likewise, the Spanish Space Agency (AEE), based in Seville, reinforces the strategic role of this chair in the space sector .

The event has been chaired by the rector of the University of Seville, Miguel Ángel Castro Arroyo , and has been attended by the director of the ETSI Andrés Sáez Pérez ; Indra representatives, led by the director of the space unit in Indra, Fernando García Martínez-Peñalver ; Military authorities, among whom the General of the Air, Chief of Staff of the Army of the Air and Space (JEMA) Francisco Braco Carbó ; Representatives of the Spanish Space Agency, including its director Juan Carlos Cortés Pulido ; as well as various civil authorities of the Junta de Andalucía and the City of Seville.

During the inauguration of the Chair, the director of Users, Services and Applications of the Spanish Space Agency, Nicolás Martín , and the General of Division, Head of the Command of the Space of the Army of the Air and Space, Isaac Crespo Zaragoza , offered two presentations to the attendees.

The presentation of the chair was in charge of Rafael Vázquez Valenzuela , Professor of Aerospace Engineering and director of the same, who explained its objectives, activities and future projects.

Planned activities

Among the planned activities are the organization of events, seminars and specialized workshops, the call for scholarships and awards for students and researchers, the dissemination and communication of scientific results, and the training of teachers in new spatial technologies. 

Already in 2024 several seminars were organized, and this course are being supervised jointly with Indra two scholarships focused on 'Machine Learning techniques for cams generation (Collision Avoidance Maneuvers)' and in 'Improvement of the realism of covariance in orbital determination'. For this year, among other activities, prizes will be awarded to the best TFG, TFM and doctoral thesis on topics related to spatial surveillance.

The training of engineering professionals experts in space surveillance contributes to graduates of the University of Seville a plus in their capabilities, highly valued and demanded by a labor market in need of people who develop their work in this important sector.

Master in Space Systems Operations

Aerospace Engineering studies that the University of Seville has in the ETSI, although it seeks to accommodate all the US degrees. It highlights its link with the future University Master in Space Systems Operation (MOSE), a specialized program proposed for the next course and taught in English that will form professionals in space technology combining competitions of aerospace engineering and telecommunications.

The chair maintains research projects focused on spatial surveillance and the future Space Traffic Management (STM) , and collaborates closely with key entities of the sector such as the Spanish Space Agency , European Space Agency , the National Institute of Aeorespacial Technique (INTA) , the Space Surveillance Operations Center (COVE) and the Royal Observatory of the Navy (ROA) .

The University of Seville also has underway since 2019 together with Indra Solutions Information Technologies, SLU The Indra Digital Society Chair , which encourages the promotion of interdisciplinary teaching and research activities linked to information and communications technologies (ICT) that study the reality, problems and perspectives of the development of new strategies and technologies in this area.