Integrating European security through space

For decades, Western European nations have been comparatively uninterested in the military use of space, largely content to rely on the far greater resources of the USA in this area. Today, however, the traditional belief that the security requirements of ‘the West’ are synonymous with those of the USA is increasingly open to challenge. A new European defence identity is emerging, keen to achieve greater autonomy in the security field, albeit remaining within the overarching framework of NATO. Consequently there is a growing requirement for indigenous European capabilities in terms of military space assets. This requirement has been met in part by the establishment, by the Western Union, of a satellite centre in Spain, which currently analyses commercially procured satellite imagery. The centre's capabilities may be expanded if the WEU states decide to add a space-based element — either their own satellite system, or participation in an existing multinational programme. Such a decision is due to be taken towards the end of 1995. This paper concludes by briefly examining the political and security implications of such a decision.     

SSA: Where does Europe stand now?

With the growing need for monitoring and awareness of all the objects in space (including debris) now recognized, the types of effort required towards this end are discussed, with the emphasis on European activities. A number of European documents acknowledging the problem are cited and initiatives to promote space situational awareness (SSA) are examined. While there is currently no provision in the EU budget beyond 2013 for protecting ground and space assets from space environmental threats, an encouraging degree of bilateral cooperation between member states suggests that an SSA capability is emerging in Europe.     

A Franco–German view of Europe's ambition in space for the 21st century

Europe has at last started to integrate the assets of its broad set of actors into a comprehensive European Space Strategy. But will this first approach be ambitious enough to strengthen Europe as a global actor? In this contribution, the individuals responsible for strategy in the French and German space agencies seek an answer to this question. They do so by reviewing the historical background to European space efforts, and its role in shaping present-day activities; setting forth a vision of how Europe should proceed in space, and measuring current progress in drafting a European space strategy against this vision.     

Towards an EU industrial policy for the space sector – Lessons from Galileo

The rise of the EU as an actor in the European and world space theatres, in its various roles as initiator, owner and operator of large-scale programmes such as Galileo and GMES, has raised a number of questions with regard to industrial policy. Based on the experiences from the Galileo programme's procurement round in the Full Operational Capability (FOC) phase and on the present discussions on space industrial policy within the EU, this paper argues that, whereas the EU's political ambitions in space have been discussed and become reasonably well defined, the specific policy tools and legal instruments to put them into practice are far from complete. First, an unequivocal industrial policy for the space sector needs to be defined that reconciles the Union's political ambitions with the economic specificities of the space sector. At present, this is a work in progress, with opinions diverging between member states. Second, both logically and temporally, these policy decisions need to be translated into legal instruments that allow their implementation. This implies the development of made-to-measure funding instruments and procurement rules. We conclude by emphasising the need for a sector-specific industrial policy as an integral part of the EU's space policy.     

European space research in support of international partnership

The envisaged future space research programmes, whether in the field of space exploration or Earth observation are becoming more and more technically complicated and so costly that a single nation can hardly afford to realize them. Major non-European space-faring nations, China and India will progressively play an important role besides US, Russia and Japan. The Space Advisory Group of the European Commission recommended that the European Commission supports within Horizon 2020 a comprehensive Robotic Mars-Exploration Programme under European leadership that should become an essential element of a coordinated international space research programme. The International Space Station (ISS) experience shows that cooperative space programmes build links between industries and laboratories from around the world, which then further develop in non-space related activities, with positive impact on the economy and scientific research. Strategies need to be developed to mitigate the gradual increasing risks incurred by climate change. In order to lower their entry barrier to engage in space emerging and developing space nations need to be included in cooperative space programmes. We present the recommendations of the Space Advisory Group of the European Commission concerning Europe's participation to global space endeavours.     

Space and maritime security–strategies for countering the pirates

Following previous work on space and internal security as part of the European Space Policy Institute's (ESPI) Space and Security programme, ESPI initiated a workshop dealing with an issue of high political as well as public concern – using space as an instrument in the broader strategic context of maritime security – together with the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES), which has special expertise in security matters related to Europe. Over 50 high-ranking professionals took part in the 30 November 2009 event, “Space and Maritime Security - Strategies and Capabilities to Counter Piracy”, held at the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ) in Vienna. The use of space assets for maritime security has moved up the political agenda as a result of the reliance of the EU ATALANTA NAVFOR mission on services and data provided by the European Union Satellite Centre (EUSC). The workshop therefore addressed technological capabilities as well as industrial approaches in the context of the political framework conditions. It provided a dialogue between space and non-space security communities.     

A European military space community: Reality or dream?

Europe is faced with several essential policy decisions with regard to the exploitation of space technology. Important issues are: the relations between civilian and military uses of outer space, employment opportunities, industrial and commercial interests, European security and international stability, regional and international cooperation. Concerted action is required for political reasons and in order to achieve the necessary scientific, technological and economic critical masses. Another major policy issue is, therefore, whether Europe should expand its space venture in the framework of a European military space community as proposed by France, through national or bilateral programmes, by participating in the US SDI research, or through NATO, the Independent European Programme Group, the Western European Union, or the European Space Agency.     

European regulation for private human spaceflight in the context of space traffic management

During the past years several European actors emerged with plans to develop suborbital vehicles for private spaceflight and the establishment of European spaceports. The privatization and commercialization of space activities is therefore gaining momentum, illustrating that space is no longer a matter that belongs exclusively to States. Indeed, the market of private suborbital flights is on the verge of becoming a reality. In Europe, so far there is no regulation in place governing this new set of activities. However, regulation will be needed for safeguarding public interests as well as providing a sound and reliable basis for business decisions and investments.     

Space in Poland—a promising future

Poland has been involved in space activities for some years, specialising in the manufacturing of space instrumentation. Projects are carried out within the framework of international cooperation, with ESA being the main partner. The country's experience and existing potential currently encourage consideration of an expansion of the scope and character of the programmes undertaken, including activities aimed at the commercial market. Early steps have been taken towards establishment of a coordinated and consolidated space programme. Poland also has well-defined interests with regard to the space policy of the European Union.     

The challenges and opportunities of a commercial human spaceflight mission to the ISS

ESA astronauts' ISS flight opportunities are considered as a vital source to meet the utilisation, operation and political objectives that Europe has established for participating in the International Space Station programme. Recent internal ESA assessments have demonstrated that a rate of three flights per year for European Astronauts should be maintained as a minimum objective. The current flight rate is lower than this. In order to improve this situation, in the context of the activation of the ESA ISS Commercialisation programme, ESA is developing the conditions for the establishment of commercially based human spaceflights with the financial support of both ESA and the private sector or, in the future, only the latter. ESA is working in a Partnership with the space industry to facilitate the implementation of such projects and support customers with a range of end-to-end commercial services. The opportunities and challenges of a "commercial human spaceflight", involving a member of the European Astronaut Corps, or a privately employed flight participant, are discussed here.     

Options for space — proposal for a programme

Because of the physical scale of human operations at present, we need to extend them into the Solar System for sustainability and into interstellar space for knowledge. Stabilizing the population on Earth, as well as reducing poverty, is vital, as is a more environmentally appropriate demographic transition than the historical one. Space assets can contribute most to strategic threats in areas like power and minerals and can also assist global education. Such public interest is important as education, but it is vital to remember that a certain level of precision in materials and engineering is needed before ideas become realizable. The crucial step is to turn the space environment to an open market and override the present government monopoly constraint. As a start, a Center for International Space Industrialization Research (CSIR) is to be set up as a model for the better understanding of the issues involved, thus making a case for strategic investment for space assets.     

A security space capability for Europe? Implications for US policy

As the European Union takes tentative steps towards creating a “rapid reaction force” able to operate independently of NATO, an important question is what capabilities that force must have in order to operate effectively. Among those capabilities is the use of space systems for communications and intelligence applications. This article examines the prospects for an independent security space capability in Europe, and the implications of the emerging European interest in space autonomy for US policy.     

EVA 2000: a European/Russian space suit concept

For the European manned space activities an EVA space suit system was being developed in the frame of the Hermes Space Vehicle Programme of the European Space Agency (ESA). The space suit was to serve the needs for all relevant extravehicular activities for the Hermes Columbus operations planned to begin in 2004. For the present Russian manned space programme the relevant EVAs are performed by the Orlan-DMA semi-rigid space suit. The origin of its development reaches back to the 1970s and has since been adapted to cover the needs for extravehicular activities on Salyut and MIR until today. The latest modification of the space suit, which guaranteed its completely self-contained operation, was made in 1988. However, Russian specialists considered it necessary to start developing an EVA space suit of a new generation, which would have improved performance and would cover the needs by the turn of the century and into the beginning of the next century. Potentially these two suit developments could have a lot in common based on similarities in present concepts. As future manned space activities become more and more an international effort, a safe and reliable interoperability of the different space suit systems is required. Based on the results of the Munich Minister Conference in 1991, the European Space Agency and the Russian Space Agency agreed to initiate a requirements analysis and conceptual design study to determine the feasibility of a joint space suit development, EVA 2000. The design philosophy for the EVA 2000 study was oriented on a space suit system design of: space suit commonality and interoperability; increased crew productivity and safety; increase in useful life and reduced maintainability; reduced development and production cost. The EVA 2000 feasibility study was performed in 1992, and with the positive conclusions for EVA 2000, this approach became the new joint European Russian EVA Suit 2000 Development Programme. This paper gives an overview of the results of the feasibility study and presents the joint requirements and the proposed design concept of a jointly developed European Russian space suit.     

低轨大规模星座对空间碎片环境的影响及其应对措施（英文）

Large constellations have developed rapidly in recent years because of their unique advantages, but they will inevitably have a major negative impact on the space debris environment, leading to its deterioration. The key to mitigate the impact is the success rate and duration of the post-mission disposal(PMD) process. Aiming at solving this problem, this paper further studies the impact of large constellations on other space assets under different PMD strategies through simulation, and proposes corresponding strategies and suggestions for mitigation.According to OneWeb's large constellation launch plan, the dangerous intersection of the large constellation with existing space assets at different stages of the constellations life cycle is calculated by simulation. Based on this, the influence of the large constellation operation on existing space assets at different times and strategies of PMD is analyzed. The conclusion shows that in the PMD stage, large constellations have the greatest impact on existing space assets; the PMD duration and number of satellites performing PMD at the same time are key factors to the degree of negative impact. The faster the PMD is, the less threat it poses to other spacecraft. More results and conclusions are still being analyzed.     

The UK parliamentary space committee: The emergence of a space lobby?

In the past few years the UK has become increasingly active as the financial conscience of the European Space Agency. This is not because the UK government has a wish to spend more on its national space effort; it is because it remains unconvinced of the benefits of certain European space activities, notably manned endeavours. In the absence of an effective UK space lobby, the government's policies have remained largely unchallenged. This article traces the growth of the Parliamentary Space Committee in the context of developments in recent European space policy and highlights the need for an active UK space lobby.     

Issues in the implementation of the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters

The 2000 Disaster Charter initiated by the European Space Agency and the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales is the first international mechanism to universally share remote sensing-derived information and knowledge for disaster management. It is an extensive international cooperative effort among space agencies to provide space-based assets to communities world-wide that are afflicted by disasters. After four years of operations, the Charter has successfully provided disaster relief to a number of afflicted states. Simultaneously, some deficiencies in its operational and legal provisions have been highlighted. The Charter can serve as a good case study to gain understanding of the current state and further challenges of Earth observations (EO). The purpose of this paper is to show what has been achieved through Charter operation, and to examine user requirements of EO, and what needs to be changed to serve them better.     

The European Union draft Code of Conduct for outer space activities: An appraisal

The European Union draft Code of Conduct for outer space activities is one of the primary international initiatives, that are currently active, to enhance the safety, security and sustainability of outer space activities. Although the spirit underlying the instrument is commonly shared by space-faring countries, substantial disagreement exists among States as to some of its core provisions. This article proposes that the Code of Conduct should make a clear distinction between commercial activities and military activities, and adopt more balanced measures on the restriction of military activities in outer space.     

EVA Suit 2000: a joint European/Russian space suit design

A feasibility study in 1992 showed the benefits of a common European Russian space suit development, EVA Suit 2000, replacing the Russian space suit Orlan-DMA and the planned European Hermes EVA space suit at the turn of the century. This EVA Suit 2000 is a joint development initiated by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Space Agency (RKA). The main objectives of this development program are: first utilization aboard the Russian Space Station MIR-2; performance improvement with respect to current operational suits; development cost reduction. Russian experience gained with the present extravehicular activity (EVA) suit on the MIR Space Station and extensive application of European Technologies will be needed to achieve these ambitious goals. This paper presents the current status of the development activities, the space suit system design and concentrates in more detail on life support aspects. Specific subjects addressed will include the overall life support conceptual architecture, design features, crew comfort and operational considerations.     

Archives for Earth observation data

The fifth workshop of the EOPOLE project¹ was held in Seville, Spain, 17–19 January 2000, with the purpose of forming an opinion on European Earth observation data archiving policy. This report discusses the growing size and importance of EO data archives and presents the main conclusions of the workshop. The case is made for the establishment of a European centre for data archiving and users are urged to become more involved in archiving policy.     

Cross-cultural issues in space operations: A survey study among ground personnel of the European Space Agency

Today's space operations involve co-working of people with different ethnical, professional and organisational backgrounds. The aim of this study was to examine the implications of cultural diversity for efficient collaboration within the European Space Agency (ESA), and between ESA employees and representatives from other agencies. ESA employees from European countries (N=576) answered to the CULT Ground Survey. The results showed that differences in relation to leadership and decision making were the most important issues thought to interfere with efficient co-working within ESA, and between ESA employees and colleagues from other agencies. Employees who collaborated with more than three nationalities within ESA indicated most challenges in co-working due to differences in compliance, behavioural norms and competitiveness. Challenges in co-working differed between agencies, and these differences were consistent with value differences in the national populations. The results may have applied value for training of European employees working in international space program teams.