EU looks towards future space law, launcher alliance and threat awareness strategy

With an EU space rulebook in the works, Europeans should already look at the space programme’s next generation, including a launcher demand aggregator, and threat mapping strategy, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said on Tuesday (23 January).

“2024 will be (…) the year of the projection for the vision we want for Europe about space policy in the next five to ten years – it is a critical year – vision, speed, and leadership are needed more than ever,” Breton, also in charge of space, said at the European Space Conference in Brussels.

With the long-awaited upcoming Space Law, set as a priority by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for 2024 but with no sign of life for at least two years, the EU executive brought it officially the stage, with Breton saying he wants “to build a true EU single market for space” and argued for “a common framework and rules – the only way for Europe”.

The EU countries and their 11 different national space laws make it difficult for the Europeans to act in one voice and leverage their influence.

To counter that, the EU Space Law “will set common rules on space activities on three main aspects: safety, resilience and sustainability”, Breton said, “bringing legal certainty and stimulating innovation”.

It would, for instance, set minimum requirements for all space systems, on anti-collision, deorbiting standards for satellites and cyber security risk management, Breton said.

“It is also a matter of security [as] in the current geopolitical context, the protection of our space system from systemic security risks is a must,” Breton added.

The European Commission intends to table a legislative proposal by March, that will apply also to non-European companies who would like to do business in Europe.

Catherine Kavvada, in charge of Space at the Commission’s DEFIS directorate, added that the EU does not plan on substituting the member states’ laws.

Belgian State Secretary for Space, Thomas Dermine, said the Commission must make sure it does not add red tape for businesses.

Space launcher strategy

As Europe faces a “launcher crisis”, lost independent access to space and cannot send its satellites into orbit, Breton repeated his ambition to develop a “European launcher policy within an EU framework”.

Concretely, the Commission could aggregate the demand for launchers, in a move to give the industry clear guidelines before manufacturing, and also boost competition in the business which is dominated by very few big companies such as ArianeGroup.

In the same way that the US satellites only use US rockets, the Europeans would have to deal with a “clear European preference”, Breton added.

With working with the member states underway, Breton “‘want[s] the [policy] in place before the start of the next MFF [multi-annual financial framework]”, the EU seven-year budget starting in 2028, which could help with a financial boost.

Other priorities mentioned to develop this launcher strategy include work on “game-changer innovations”, to develop the next generation of launchers and invest in crucial infrastructures, including modernisation, Breton said, referencing older ideas.

The scheme would therefore build a “fully fledged ‘access to space’ component, covering all the aspects of a dedicated European Launcher policy from R&D to deployment, including the security and defence dimension of it”, the Commissioner also said.

Space awareness and threat response

Considering the increasing geopolitical tensions in the world, especially in space where rules are inexistent, and the growing number of orbiting satellites, the EU executive wants to “protect space systems and increase their resilience”.

Looking to the next Commission’s mandate and priorities starting next fall, the EU “must gradually develop — under the next Space Programme — a European ‘Space Domain Awareness’ system to protect our infrastructures and monitor threats as a fourth space-based infrastructure”, Breton said, as member states capacities fail to suffice.

A “common autonomous network” would “ensure safety  – protection against debris – but also security – detection of potential threats – in space”, the Commissioner continued.

According to Timo Pesonen, the director-general of the Commission’s directorate on space (DEFIS), “the [previous] space programme was a peace-time space programme,” as opposed to the wartime faced by Europe since the war in Ukraine shook the continent.

The Commissioner also mentioned leveraging the European Defence Fund (EDF) aimed at boosting research and development in the defence sector.

[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]

Read more with Euractiv

US, British forces carry out new strikes in Yemen

US and British forces carried out a fresh round of strikes on Monday (22 January) in Yemen, targeting a Houthi underground storage site as well as missile and surveillance capabilities used by the Iran-aligned group against Red Sea shipping, the Pentagon said.