- June 6, 2024
- Posted by: admin
- Category: Emilio Cozzi
The key points of the Council held in May between the European Space Agency and the EU ministers highlight the growing focus on competitiveness. However, accusations of lack of decisiveness are not absent.
BY EMILIO COZZI
There are three or four notable outcomes from the recent Space Council of the European Space Agency with the European Union, which saw the ministers of the 27 EU countries and ESA member states sit around the table.
On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the framework agreement between the two institutions at the end of May, discussions and decisions were made on space competitiveness, perhaps the most delicate of the issues, as problems that can no longer be ignored are coming to a head; contracts were signed for new cargo transport services in low Earth orbit by the industry, and a commitment by 12 states (excluding Italy) for space ecology, the Zero Debris Charter; a new mission is planned for space weather monitoring, and the first flight opportunity for two astronauts selected in November 2022 was announced.
“Lack of a Common Industrial Strategy”
The first chapter is the most delicate: the Council approved a “Resolution on Strengthening Europe’s Competitiveness through Space.” It is a long list of intentions, shared values, and guidelines, reaffirming the excellence of European technology and science, the strategic role of space assets and know-how for society, and economic growth. The use of data, the Council emphasized, should make administrative decisions more effective (in terms of land management, improving living conditions) in response to the challenges posed by the climate crisis.
Above all, the role of public and private sectors together should promote the competitiveness of the industrial sector, with initiatives like the Cassini fund and the ESA Investor network. Unfortunately, according to the stakeholders, several weaknesses remain.
In a very critical statement, Asd Eurospace, an association representing the main European companies in the sector, stated that things, as they are now, do not work. And it was written bluntly: “The industry welcomes the fact that European ministers recognize that space supports Europe’s overall competitiveness and strongly supports European priorities and policies,” reads the note issued at the end of the Council. “However, […] it regrets that the current challenges of the European space sector have not been seriously evaluated nor addressed: despite a very strong position in the global market and world-renowned experience, the entire European space value chain is disrupted, and its sustainability is threatened.”
In summary, and not without some simplification, European industries are calling for a common strategy because “the current pace of global transformation requires more than disjointed supranational, intergovernmental, and national industrial strategies. Other space powers, like the United States, have launched appropriate programs to support the innovation and sustainability of their industrial base,” and therefore “it is necessary and urgent for Europe to develop and implement a coherent European-level industrial strategy for space,” the note reads.
Europe is Not Enough
One of the reasons for the concerns expressed by Eurospace relates to a chronic issue peculiar to Europe compared to countries like the United States and China: it is “the low volume of European institutional markets” compared to competitors, which “are several times larger […] and mostly restricted (i.e., not accessible to non-national operators).”
Europe, both as a union of EU member states and as ESA members — groups that do not coincide, considering post-Brexit UK — lacks a common defense, has a fragmented market, and the demand, particularly of the institutional type, is limited. With these premises and a company like SpaceX capable of shaking the launcher market and promising to do the same with satellites, Europe needs a step change oriented towards a truly communal strategy. Otherwise, the industry association argues, it cannot claim the title of “space power.”
Cargo Services for Orbit
If one were to draw a parallel with SpaceX, one could focus on the new cargo program launched by ESA for resupplying stations in low Earth orbit (the same service performed for NASA, which allowed Musk’s company to thrive). At the Space Council, two contracts were signed, one with the Franco-Italian Thales Alenia Space and the other with the Franco-German Exploration Company, both worth 25 million euros. The competition started in November 2023, and the designs of the two companies won, now moving on to the next stages with the goal of a first test mission in 2028. Thales Alenia Space, in Italy, is the main industrial contractor, in France it will be involved in the development of the spacecraft, while Altec, a joint venture between Thales Alenia Space Italia (63.75%) and the Italian Space Agency (36.25%), will be responsible for the development of the ground segment and support infrastructure for recovery on Earth.
After the end of the ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) program, which ensured greater flight opportunities and stays on the International Space Station for European astronauts, ESA is now relying on the commercial service model, following the approach adopted by NASA with SpaceX and Orbital ATK (now Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems). The service is expected to be operational no later than 2030, ideally coinciding with the abandonment of the ISS. It will thus be a step towards the era of commercial space stations, providing Europe with a cargo transport system even to new private outposts. Not least, it could (finally) be the embryo for developing a crew transport capsule, an opportunity not to be missed after the one lost with the ATV.
However, given the ownership of new orbiting stations, all private and American, and the lack of recognition of Europe’s significant contribution to the Artemis lunar program — a role that has not led to the guarantee that European astronauts will walk on the Moon — it remains to be seen what centrality will be recognized to the Old Continent.
Zero Debris Charter and Space Weather Mission
Also within the Space Council, twelve countries signed the Zero Debris Charter: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom committed to not generating new orbiting debris in space missions. The goal is to become debris neutral by 2030.
For the first time, ESA writes, a country-level commitment is being signed, while another 100 organizations have pledged to join. The Charter highlights the need to keep orbits clean, avoiding seeding new fragments beyond the sky and disposing of structures (satellites and rockets) at the end of their operational life without endangering people and things in the event that some debris reaches the ground.
It is an ecological choice, addressing space trash, rocket stages that continue to orbit for years without purpose after delivering their payloads, as well as non-operational and unmanageable satellites that continue to move at high speeds, risking collision with other devices or space debris fragments.
In this area, Europe is at the forefront in awareness and commitment to freeing the orbits. It is an important effort but not decisive, especially in the absence of rules requiring all space actors, at the UN level, to do their part. The problem is increasingly urgent, given the rise in orbital traffic and tests of anti-satellite systems like the Russian one in 2021 that generated a debris cloud threatening the safety of astronauts on the ISS.
Safety and sustainability are also at the center of the Vigil mission for space weather. It will be a sentinel on watch in deep space, positioned in a privileged observation point, far from Earth, allowing it to detect the most violent solar eruptions. Events like major coronal mass ejections (CMEs) can fry satellite circuits in orbit or attack power grids, causing blackouts over large areas and leaving tens or hundreds of millions of people without power.
Vigil, transmitting information almost in real-time and identifying imminent threats, will enable the protection of satellites in orbit and the isolation of the most at-risk power grids. ESA has signed a 340 million euro contract with Airbus UK for the construction of the spacecraft, scheduled for launch in 2031.
First Flight for AstroSophie and AstroRaphaël
The dream of a space mission is close to coming true for the ESA astronauts chosen in the most recent selection: French Sophie Adenot and Belgian Raphaël Liégeois will fly to the International Space Station. Both have just completed a year of training and will each embark as crew members for a long-duration mission scheduled for 2026. Adenot, 42, an engineer, helicopter pilot, and colonel in the French Air and Space Force, will be the first to depart; Liégeois, 36, a biomedical engineer and neuroscientist, is destined for a subsequent mission.