News

The launch of the first commercial IOS mission, the Mission Extension Vehicle-1, marked a concrete progress in both technological and business areas of servicing operations, offering new interesting prospects for the space sector at large with a potentially disruptive impact. This ESPI Brief examines the challenges of IOS solutions and considers the implications at European level.

ESPI partcipated to a panel on "Space security and threats" during the GOVSATCOM 2020 conference (Luxembourg, February 20th). ESPI Coordinator of Studies, Sebastien Moranta, discussed about rising stakes for Europe in the field of space security, safety and sustainability and called attention to the role of Space Traffic Management in this domain. The GOVSATCOM conference has become a key event on the agenda of the international SATCOM actors. This edition gathered over 500 participants.

On the margins of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of COPUOS, ESPI Director Jean-Jacques Tortora took part in a panel during a French-speaking event oganized by Le Cercle, an association organizing events promoting diplomacy. In front of an audience of space practitioners, students and non-space attendants, Mr. Tortora outlined the difference between cooperation and diplomacy and stressed the main reasons why diplomacy is necessary in the space sector.

The topic of STM has been gaining considerable attention in recent years. With the goal to further international dialogue on what a possible STM framework might look like and how it can be implemented, ESPI and UNIDIR jointly organized an Evening Event "Space Traffic Management: National and International Consideration" on 06 February 2020, on the margins of the 57th Session of the UNCOPUS Scientific and Technical Subcommittee.

The global space defence environment is currently undergoing in-depth transformation, and several major announcements were made worldwide  in 2019. Our latest ESPI report analyses the status and on-going developments in these matters and puts in perspective the various options for Europe to face the challenges ahead.