On Tuesday 8 December, in his speech at European Space Week, Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, outlined his vision for space policy, including his proposed initiative for a constellation of satellites for broadband connectivity.
The Commissioner again stressed the importance of developing a new initiative, a new European programme linked to secure connectivity, and quoted initiatives from across the Atlantic, including Starlink, OneWeb and Kuiper, none of which are European.
He said that the initiative could involve low earth orbit constellations that would allow the whole of Europe to benefit from space-based high-speed connectivity, and which would complement other technologies (fibre and 5G).
The initiative would also project the EU into the field of quantum encryption, which is without doubt the most important future technological breakthrough, he said. The Commissioner believes now is the time to act: the EU is in a situation similar to when Galileo was launched 20 years ago. He explained that he was working to identify the architecture for the project, which is located at the intersection of digital and space, two ecosystems that the Commission has targeted.
In general, the Commissioner welcomed the agreed budget for European Space policy for the next 7 years (€13.2 billion, below the budget anticipated by the European Parliament and the European Space Agency - see EUROPE 12533/6) and the regulation establishing the EU Space Programme (negotiations are expected to resume shortly - see EUROPE 12596/9).
According to the Commissioner, this budget will mean that the two EU flagship programmes, Galileo and Copernicus, can be kept afloat. He announced that he intends to accelerate the deployment of the next generation of Galileo satellites.
Breton also stressed the need to position the EU at the forefront in setting standards for space traffic management. He mentioned the importance of the Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) framework.
He also called for a “new space” to emerge in the EU, based mainly on Cassini (see EUROPE 12443/7), which is part of the SME strategy, and linked to €1 billion in support from Horizon Europe and InvestEU. The aim is to increase funding from venture capital.
Last of all, the Commissioner emphasised the need for the EU’s independent access to space to be maintained and mentioned the key role that the new Ariane 6 and Vega C launchers will play, even though their development has been delayed, by the pandemic in particular.
A summary of his vision can be found at: https://bit.ly/3qCz7nv (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)