The Commission wants to enhance synergies between civilian and security activities. This is highlighted by the announcement of a possible EU Governmental Satellite Communications (GOVSATCOM) initiative in 2017, as part of the space strategy for Europe, presented on Wednesday 26 October.
The proposal was already common knowledge among certain member states and the European Parliament which have been calling for it (see EUROPE 11568). It was also mentioned by European Commissioner for the Internal Market Elżbieta Bieńkowska at the beginning of the year (see EUROPE 11466). The Commission recently published a roadmap to carry out an impact study on the question.
In the latter document, the Commission points out that member states are increasingly using satellite communications (SATCOM) to ensure citizens’ security but they have not all adopted the same approach, which has led to regulatory fragmentation and dysfunction in the event of crises, as well as problems when it comes to monitoring coastal borders and areas. The Commission therefore believes that the benefits of GOVSATCOM will be multifold. It will help rectify the current fragmentation between member states, create a synergy between the civilian and military sector, guarantee access to communications satellites for government users (European and national) and develop a robust system that can face up to possible attacks.
The Commission envisages several different formulas. The first involves the status quo: member states continue to use their own systems and the EU continues to provide SATCOM services on the international markets in an open way. The second involves the use of the markets through a standardised framework. Under this option, GOVSATCOM services would be provided by the international markets in a coordinated and structured way based on European standards. The third solution would be developing a consortium of member states on the lines of the Space Surveillance and Tracking of objects in orbit (EU SST). The fourth option would be to develop a public-private partnership on the model of certain European Space Agency (ESA) programmes. Finally, the fifth option would involve providing the EU with a dedicated space infrastructure or, in other words, a European agency.
The current Copernicus and Galileo programmes include a section on security and defence. The Galileo programme will in fact be proposing the Public Regulated Service (PRS), an encoded navigation service. The European defence action plan results are expected to be presented before the end of the year (see EUROPE 11654) and will include an important point on space related challenges in the European security and defence fields.
Autonomous and independent space access. Independent access to space represents one of the other main challenges in the strategy. The Commission has been counting on the development of Ariane 6, which should be up and running by 2020, as well as the lighter Vega C launcher. It has made it quite clear that it will be the main institutional client for Arianespace, with the sending into orbit of around 30 satellites in the Copernicus and Galileo programmes alone. As one source informed EUROPE, the Commission is already required to launch satellites from European territory if the security of European citizens comes into question, which would also need different European actors. The same source said that an implicit sort of European preference would help to support the European private sector, given that the two European programmes almost systematically include a section relating to defence and security
Setting up platforms for using space data. Support for the private sector constitutes one of the cornerstones of the strategy. The Commission would like to strengthen the presence of the private sector in the European space domain, particularly European SMEs and start-ups. Currently, the start-ups breaking into the sector tend to get “sucked up” by Silicon Valley in the US where they are frenetically developing the private “New Space” sector, backed up by big public orders (see EUROPE 11466). In this connection, the Commission will launch a series of service platforms to help companies fully benefit from space data, particularly the Copernicus programme. The Commission’s main concern, as proprietor of space infrastructure, is that the considerable data generated is not managing to find economic outlets (see EUROPE 11540).
Joint EU-ESA statement and EGNOS agreement with South Korea. As part of the space strategy, the European Commission signed a joint cooperation statement with the European Space Agency (see EUROPE 11647). On the same day, the EU also concluded an initial cooperation agreement with South Korea to use the EGNOS programme, which improves GPS accuracy. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)