At the Space Tech Expo Europe in Bremen, Germany, European government representatives underscored the necessity of developing robust, autonomous space capabilities, even as the continent continues to depend on foreign entities for certain launches. During the sessions held on November 18th, officials from national space agencies and governments stated that the evolving geopolitical landscape has made it imperative for Europe to increase its investments in the space sector.
“We have a paradigm shift,” stated Alberto Maulu, technologies manager at the Luxembourg Space Agency, during one panel discussion. “Resilience, security, European independence is now what’s driving at the institutional level and also at the commercial level.” This includes amplified backing for defense-related space activities. “We have no other choice because of our geopolitical situation,” asserted Marta Wachowicz, president of the Polish space agency, POLSA. “Poland will advocate for a European approach to space security that treats satellites, launch capabilities and ground systems as critical assets.”
These remarks precede the European Space Agency’s ministerial conference, slated for November 26–27, where member states will decide on funding for programs over the next three years. These decisions will encompass proposed new programs concentrating on space security and bolstering Europe’s overall competitiveness in the global space sector. “Europe seems to be losing ground,” with its share of the global space economy shrinking, said Craig Brown, investment director at the U.K. Space Agency. “The Council of Ministers is perhaps an opportunity for us to think about how we do things differently.” “The ministerial should be about strategic autonomy,” Wachowicz said. “It should be more security-driven.”
Several nations are also planning increased domestic spending as they build up national space capabilities. “In Italy, there was quite a significant increase in budgets in the last few years,” said Marco Di Clemente, head of technology development and the space design office at the Italian space agency ASI. “We also increased by a lot the budget for some strategic areas — technologies, for example — at the national level.” One such strategic national program is Cosmo-Skymed, a system of radar imaging satellites. “We prefer to guarantee the full control from Italy and the security provided by this program,” Di Clemente said.
Italy is preparing to launch the third satellite in the Cosmo-Skymed Second Generation (CSG) system. However, that satellite will not launch on a European rocket, instead opting for a Falcon 9. Di Clemente confirmed at the conference that the third CSG satellite will launch on a Falcon 9 before the end of the year. He said after the panel that the long hiatus in Vega C launches following a December 2022 failure disrupted the vehicle’s manifest. “There was a need to launch this satellite as soon as possible,” he said, citing its importance for dual-use applications. “It was quite a unique case, unfortunately.” The launch contract originally intended for the third CSG satellite will now be used for the fourth satellite, he said, which is scheduled for launch in the first half of 2027.