On Monday September 24th, the Director of ESPI was invited at a hearing organised by the ITRE Committee in the European Parliament in Brussels. The purpose of the hearing was to assess the potential consequences of Brexit on the EU27 space policy.

This year Belgium is hosting the Presidency of the 20th European Interparliamentary Space Conference (EISC), under the Co-Chairmanship of Senators Ms. Christie Morreale and Mr. Yves Evrard. The Plenary Session of the Conference will take place in Brussels from 15 to 16 October 2018, with the theme ““Big data: development of value-added downstream services and applications”.

The European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) is looking to employ a researcher (seconded by CNES) at the premises of the Institute in Vienna, starting from 03/12/2018. This position is for a limited duration of one year, with the possibility of extension, under a VIE employment contract.

The Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union with the support of the European Commission organises in Graz Styria, Austria on 5-6 November a high-level Space conference. It will address the opportunities and issues regarding the further development of the European Space Policy.

Experts routinely caution governments and operators about the rising threats to space infrastructure security, underlining that space is increasingly congested and contested, which poses an intensifying challenge to safely deploying, operating and exploiting space assets. In this context, the growing socio-economic and strategic importance of the European space infrastructure raises new stakes concerning its protection from harm.