Country dossier · IRL

Ireland

Emerging space nation

A sourced snapshot of Ireland's posture in space — capability, institutions, orbital assets, law and people. Every figure carries its primary source; gaps are shown honestly, never filled with invented data.

Open Ireland in the interactive workspace →

Capability tier

Emerging space nation

Launches to orbit from its own territory: noLaunch sites on record: 0Nationals who have flown: 0

Source: ALL IN SPACE capability ladder · see methodology

Space agency

Enterprise Ireland (Space)

Other space institution · established 1975

Source: Enterprise Ireland (Space) · official site

Satellites (owner state)

2

Counted from the GCAT May 2026 snapshot. The interactive workspace shows a live CelesTrak figure, which uses different owner-attribution rules and will differ.

Source: GCAT · General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects (J. McDowell) · May 2026 snapshot

Ground stations

Space budget

$13M

Emerging spender · 2024

Source: OECD · GBARD by socio-economic objective

National strategy

National Space Strategy for Enterprise 2019-2025 (2019)

Five-pillar enterprise-focused strategy targeting a 50% increase in ESA investment by 2025

Coverage period ended in 2025. No successor has been published.

Source: Published national space strategies and policies

International space law

InstrumentStatus
Outer Space Treaty 1967Ratified
Rescue Agreement 1968Ratified
Liability Convention 1972Ratified
Registration Convention 1975Not a party
Moon Agreement 1979Not a party
Artemis Accords 2020Signatory (2026-05-04)

Source: Status of international agreements relating to activities in outer space (1 January 2026)

Launch sites

No launch infrastructure.

Source: National launch site roster · ALL IN SPACE compilation

Astronauts

No nationals have flown in space on record.

Milestones

  • 1975Enterprise Ireland (Space) established

Notable missions and contributions

  • ESA member since 1975 — Enterprise Ireland coordinates
  • EIRSAT-1 (2023) — first Irish satellite (UCD CubeSat)
  • Realtra Space Systems — mission-critical software
  • Curtiss-Wright Dublin — radiation-hardened electronics
  • Skytek — SSA software used by ESA/NASA
  • Irish Centre for High-End Computing — sat data