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Europe’s Space Strategy: Between Security and Commercial Reality

I thank the European commission for organising EU space days and giving me a chance to participate in the conference online. It was a great pleasure to listen to the esteemed speakers sharing their vision on how to strengthen the EU space industry. 

This was my second engagement with the European Space Agency following the virtual event in January. [1-2]

This year's event took place at Cyprus which is currently presiding over the EU. Since space and defense industries are intimately connected a few statements were made regarding the political status of Cyprus which remains divided between the Republic of Cyprus in the south and Turkey controlled region in the North. A question was asked: how could the space industry be used to defend the sovereignty of the nation?

Although the question was rhetorical, it clearly emphasized that the EU is no longer going to view the space industry purely from a scientific & engineering POV.  This seemed to me a natural continuation of the stance that the EU space agency had adopted recently. For the EU, space is now an integral part of the defense.

At present they are calling it non aggressive defence (likely meaning ground support) but it's just one step away from a full fledged arms program [3-4]. The direction that the EU space program is taking is unsurprising considering President Von Der Leyen's background as the minister of defense in Germany under the leadership of Angela Merkel. 

All of this is fine. The EU is well within its rights to prepare its defense against states it perceives to be potential threats but it does raise several issues for the space industry. Space is a state funded sector. Already it's heavily tied up with telecommunications and depends upon telco contracts to generate a significant portion of its revenue but by integrating it with defense it is going to make it even harder for it to produce anything that could be profitable in the future. Perhaps that is not the goal. Perhaps the EU is confident enough in its arms industry to sustain a defense export program. Individually Sweden,France and Germany have seen huge profits from sales of its defense equipment. Perhaps a similar outcome can be expected. 
The larger problem however remains. That is typecasting of space into a telco-defense role. This current structuring is heavily inspired by the early success of NACA and then NASA in propelling USA space industry to a commanding position. NACA and later NASA worked through WW1,WW2 and the cold war to create and define the modern space industry. Perhaps the EU could do the same. But things are already changing. The USA is once more leading the transformation. Private corporations like Spacex and Blue Origin are trying hard to commercialise the space industry. I doubt that they will achieve anything more substantial than telecom or defense contracts though but the intent is clear. 

As discussed during the Meridian space diplomacy forum earlier in March [5] advancement in space is only possible through international partnerships and exchanges. 

USA unveiled its Artemis program in 2017 under the visionary leadership of president Trump[10] to take humans back to the moon. But more importantly it sought to do this not alone but via cooperation with international partners. What excited me most was intention of USA to deepen it's engagement with Africa in space initiatives. Since 2023 starlink has been operational in 18 African nations [6]. I'm sure a greater expansion is already planned. This is definitely a step in the right direction and in the short term the most reliable way to ensure the growth of the space industry. 

In the long term though the space industry has got to find a way to fund itself. That's only possible if it can create new industries and generate revenue. That can be done by adopting the technologies used to manufacture and operate space assets to produce consumer goods [1,7-8]. 

The energy industry presents a huge opportunity. Noon energy is one such private corporation that is demonstrating what can be done by adapting space tech to solve big problems. The company is looking to commercialise the technology developed for the Mars mission by NASA by solving the energy storage challenge that we are facing right here on earth. [9] 

The space sector is naturally good at materials science,mechanical engineering and fluid mechanics. All of these disciplines are going to be critical in making the infrastructure necessary to power our homes and industries. Instead of remaining a spectator the space sector can drive the change here. Because right now the doors are wide open. The challenge is immense. The return is nearly limitless. 

REFERENCES 


2 Post-CM25 industry event online set for 14 January
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/Post-CM25_industry_event_online_set_for_14_January

3 Acting on defence to protect Europeans
https://commission.europa.eu/topics/defence/future-european-defence_en
4 Germany approves key targets for 2027 budget, higher defence spending in focus
https://www.reuters.com/world/german-approves-key-figures-2027-budget-2026-04-29/

5 Space Diplomacy Forum
https://meridian.org/announcement/space-diplomacy-forum/

6 Starlink Expanding in Africa
https://resources.telegeography.com/starlink-expanding-in-africa




9 Noon Energy brings Mars tech down to Earth with carbon-oxygen battery system
https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/18/noon-energy-brings-mars-tech-down-to-earth-with-carbon-oxygen-battery-system/
10 Artemis program
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_program

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