The European Commission will present a strategy to strengthen the EU's security and defence efforts in space, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.
The move comes as tensions in space have risen due to Russia in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
This has resulted in the delay of a number of space missions between Europe and Russia and has hampered European satellite launch efforts.
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At the opening of the European Space Conference in Brussels, Breton said that, given the current geopolitical context, it is imperative to strengthen the EU’s strategic posture in order to safeguard our interests, secure our space systems and services and establish ourselves as a more dominant force in the space industry.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell referred to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “wake-up call” and stressed the need for the EU to examine the importance of space assets and services in terms of collective European action.
He also noted that around 10% of the approximately 5,500 satellites in orbit around the earth are operated by military forces. There are also many that are dual-use and provide essential information to support the EU’s security and defence.
Breton stated that the strategy will have 4 main objectives:
- Strengthen the resilience and security framework for EU national and commercial space systems.
- Strengthen the EU's ability to respond to threats.
- Expand the use of space for security and defense operations through programs that monitor Earth and space traffic and through cooperation with partners such as NATO.
- Establish common rules for the safety, security and sustainability of our systems through the implementation of an EU space law.
Commissioner Breton said that 10 of the 27 EU member states have already started to regulate their space activities.
He warned that the EU risks having “diverging national regulations” that could affect competitiveness, industry and safety. In addition, a new stock index of European space-based companies was launched on Tuesday, according to an announcement by the European Space Agency (ESA).
According to the European Space Agency , investors and financial experts will be able to track the financial performance of European space companies using the European Space Stock, which was created in cooperation with the European Commission and stock exchange operator Euronext.
Source: phys.org
