Today, the aerospace sector is a field of intense technological and commercial activity, offering an impressive return on investment of 400 % over a typical five-year period. The aerospace sector is stimulating, inspiring and profitable even in conditions of slow economic growth. European citizens are enthusiastic about space exploration and willing to support an increase in European investment in R&D, infrastructure, and space services, as highlighted by a series of surveys conducted by the European Commission's Eurobarometer.
The present aerospace sector offers endless opportunities for achieving excellent commercial and R&D results.
For its part, the aerospace sector depends less and less on government resources, although it is a sector in which the number of key players such as SMEs and academic institutions is increasing, who contribute actively and independently not only to Basic scientific and technological R&D, but also to long-term policy development, capabilities and emerging market niches. In the current climate, aerospace experience is also shared among various stakeholders, which is why the bottom-up approach adopted for structuring and executing commercial, public, and academic activities is so flexible and provides a competitive advantage to new and old players alike. The number of startups Activities in the areas of unmanned aircraft, space applications and technology are continuously increasing, and with them, the «new space» ecosystem, leading to a progressive change in the rules of the game in the sector.
The Aerospace Applications, Research and Technologies Cluster (CASTRA), based in Bulgaria, is one of the new Independent aerospace organisations from South-Eastern Europe whose objective is to seek ways to consolidate national experience and capacity in the sector, in order to bringing together academic R&D knowledge with energy, innovation and business efficiency of new SMEs, and integrate it all into a European space sector that is growing at an unstoppable pace.
Bulgaria has achieved great things in the past: it is the 18th country in the world to have launched domestically manufactured satellites into space, carried out two national manned spaceflight programmes as part of the former Eastern European INTERCOSMOS programme, and became the third country after the United States and Russia to supply food products and technology for cosmonauts, as well as a range of new space systems, such as the first space greenhouse, the first comprehensive system for monitoring biomedical processes in flight (telemedicine) and others. Currently building on the rapid and robust development of national expertise and capacity in industrial sectors such as ICT, mechatronics, embedded systems, high-speed mobile satellite communications, composite materials and propulsion, as well as fully integrated systems and applications (unmanned aircraft, small satellite platforms), CASTRA plays a leading role in the SME-driven aerospace sector. Today, we are developing commercial and technological programmes in the fields of heavy-lift, high-altitude and long-range unmanned aerial vehicle systems, small satellite data communication, small satellite launch systems and related activities.
In Bulgaria, as in many other countries, there is a saying that states «unity is strength». We are convinced that the aerospace sector of today offers infinite opportunities to achieve excellent commercial and R&D results for all those who join forces to execute the most challenging projects more quickly and competitively. Let's do it together!
Dr Vesselin Vassilev
Chief Executive Officer
Aerospace Applications, Research and Technologies Cluster, CASTRA
