European Union member states are moving towards a very liberal vision of the space sector, in conclusions that are supposed to give impetus to the European ‘New Space’ by reducing the role of the public space sector to a bare minimum, according to a draft version seen by EUROPE on Friday 12 March.
The Member States, noting that the space sector is undergoing rapid international transformation and expansion due to disruptive technologies (such as reusable launchers), announce from the outset that space is emerging as a “profitable” sector, in which new business models are emerging.
Indeed, the provisional version of these conclusions confirms, in general, a liberal vision of the space sector, not hesitating to speak of new “markets” to be explored, created thanks to new technological developments and “market approaches centred on cost reduction”, and higher “flexibility” and “agility”.
As in the previous version (see EUROPE 12669/5), Member States want to build on greater “cross-fertilisation” of the non space sectors to space technologies and applications and the emergence of new applications and services. For example, they want to take advantage of the free data provided by the Copernicus earth observation programme, with the aim of creating a space ecosystem in Europe, also drawing on innovations such as high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and quantum technologies.
Framework versus approach to space traffic management
It is interesting that the conclusions mention a European “approach” for Space Traffic Management (STM) and not a “framework”, as originally planned. The European Commission has made Space Traffic Management one of its three major flagship projects (see EUROPE 12663/13).
As for the future EU Space Programme Agency (EUSPA), its supporting role is only mentioned twice, of which one mention is in square brackets (i.e. it may be subject to deletion).
A round table alliance
Furthermore, the conclusions invite the European Commission to develop a roadmap for the next generation. In this regard, at a press conference on Friday 12 March, Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market, spoke about the European Launcher Alliance (see EUROPE 12634/8).
It is not an alliance in the sense of the European Battery Alliance (see other news), but a ‘polymorphic’ alliance to discuss with the industry, Member States and relevant agencies how to establish a ‘joint vision’ of launcher needs for the next five, 10 and 20 years. This will include reusable launchers, said Commissioner Breton. This is an essential dimension of space sovereignty, he reiterated.
To see the draft conclusions: http://bit.ly/2PZVxkD (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)