New EU space commissioner outlines priorities

WASHINGTON — The new European Union commissioner responsible for space says he will focus on improving European competitiveness and security in space, including passage of a long-delayed space law.

Andrius Kubilius formally started his tenure as the European Commissioner for Defence and Space on Dec. 1 after members of the European Parliament confirmed him among a slate of 26 commissioners Nov. 27 for five-year terms.

Kubilius, a former prime minister of Lithuania, takes on a new portfolio that combines defense and space issues. Under the previous commission, space was handled by the commissioner for the internal market.

“Europe must be part of this space revolution. However, we are confronted with a new set of challenges,” he said at a Nov. 6 confirmation hearing by committee of the European Parliament. Those challenges, he said, include a lack of funding, a “fragmented regulatory landscape” among European nations, and security risks.

He vowed at the hearing to maintain the EU’s flagship space programs: the Copernicus Earth observation constellation, Galileo navigation system and the new IRIS² secure broadband constellation that the European Commission announced Oct. 31 it would move forward with after reaching an agreement with a consortium of European satellite operators. He added he would support “enhancing their capabilities to provide special governmental services for our security needs.”

He also outlined five new European space initiatives. They include improving European access to space, passing a new European space law, supporting competitiveness of the European space industry in the global marketplace, planning for the next multiannual financial framework (MFF) for the EU “reflecting a new level of ambition” and responding to growing threats to space assets.

“These initiatives will enable European leadership in space, thereby enhancing our technological sovereignty, competitiveness and our security and defense capabilities and, ultimately, our strategic autonomy,” he concluded.

In his remarks, and in answers to questions from members of parliament during the three-hour hearing, he offered few specifics. However, he indicated that those initiatives will require additional funding. “We are spending two billion [euros] per year, which is really a very small amount,” he said. “I see a challenge that, in the next MFF, we need to have larger numbers. I cannot predict what.”

One theme he returned several times at the hearing was the importance of European autonomous access to space, something that had has been a challenge in recent years because of the so-called “launcher crisis” that forced both the European Commission and the European Space Agency to launch science and navigation satellites on SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

“We are bad in launching satellites, but we are good in Galileo and Copernicus and we shall be very good also in IRIS²,” he said of Europe’s space capabilities.

He indicated the solution was to bring in new players, be it through the new European Launcher Initiative for small launch vehicles or ESA’s new program to stimulate the development of commercial cargo spacecraft. “This is very similar to what NASA did back in 2006” with the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, he said. “We are moving. I don’t know how quickly we can do it.”

That would suggest a greater role for the EU in launch, which has been traditionally been handled by ESA. The EU and ESA are partnered on the European Flight Ticket Initiative, which will allow European launch companies, principally startups, to compete for missions for the EU’s In-Orbit Demonstration and Validation technology program.

Kubilius, in his remarks at the hearing, did not specifically discuss cooperation with ESA on launch or other space programs. The European Commission and ESA have been at odds in the past on their roles and responsibilities, although the two have more recently been more closely aligned.

In an interview during the International Astronautical Congress in October, Josef Aschbacher, director general of ESA, said he had met informally with Kubilius. “The first interaction was a very positive one, a very constructive one,” he said. “I look forward to very good collaboration in the future.”

“I’m more than happy and willing to advise and be available for any support that is required,” Aschbacher added. “It’s also necessary for Europe to make sure that we work hand-in-hand together.”

EU space law plans

At his confirmation hearing, Kubilius emphasized the importance of developing an EU space law. That law was to be introduced early this year but, in April, was postponed until after the European elections in June.

“The space law is crucial,” he said, noting concerns about fragmentation caused by different provisions in national space laws of EU member states. That includes establishing “rules of the road” for space activities and creation of a single internal market for space.

“We hope that with our initiative, we can start again be standard setters again globally,” he said, that could lead to international agreements.

He said that he expected the law to be released in the first half of 2025, but was not more specific on a timeframe. The contents of the law also remain under wraps, beyond the broad statements about space sustainability and internal markets.

During a panel at Space Tech Expo Europe Nov. 20, industry and government officials said they wanted to see a variety of provisions in the law regarding deorbiting satellites at the end of their lives and supporting use of active debris removal systems.

Stela Tkatchova, program manager for space at the European Commission’s European Innovation Council, said she was not working directly on the law but was familiar with what colleagues in the Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space were considering to include.

“They’re looking at deorbiting within five years” of a satellite’s end of life, she said, “with mandatory use of in-orbit satellite servicing and, mainly, looking at encouraging satellite design to minimize space debris release.”

Others on the panel endorsed a five-year deorbit timeline, which would follow what the U.S. Federal Communications Commission enacted two years ago. Juan Carlos Dolado Perez, founder and chief technology officer of space situational awareness company Look Up Space, saw a recent update to French national space law as a model for an EU law.

“There has been a massive change in sustainability issues” in the update, he said, with a greater focus on collision risks and in-space servicing.

“It’s a very good model for the EU space law,” Thomas Eggenweiler, commercial director at space traffic coordination company Neuraspace, said of the updated French law. “This development is very welcome.”