The European Union’s Internal Market Commissioner has said that the bloc wishes to have more control over space.
Thierry Breton, the EU’s Commissioner for the Internal Market, has said that Brussels wishes to have greater influence in space.
Breton’s comments were made during the bloc’s 14th European Space Conference, which wrapped up on Wednesday.
According to Euronews, Commissioner Breton put great emphasis on the bloc gaining more control over space traffic in order to ensure the safety of EU satellite constellations.
“Space is an area that is increasingly contested. It is a strategic area. It is an area that must be protected, that must be defended, also for us Europeans,” the publication reports the commissioner as saying.
“We saw it recently with what happened during the Russian satellite launch which left debris everywhere and which could jeopardise our own constellations, our own sovereign constellations, and I think, in particular, about those [satellite constellations] which are so useful for our daily life, like Galileo and Copernicus,” he continued, with reference to the EU’s satellite navigation and Earth observation systems respectively.
The commissioner also made it very clear that the EU was looking to compete with the likes of Russia regarding control of space.
“The recent Russian anti-missile test made it clear. Space is a strategic area where big powers are now competing,” Breton said according to the EU’s official website. “We cannot be naïve. Europe must defend its interests and freedom to operate in space.”
“Europe is a space power. It has the necessary expertise, industrial capacity, start-ups and assets to weigh in on the global stage. But there is no time for complacency,” the commissioner also noted.
Space is increasingly becoming a battleground for major players on the world stage, with nations competing to become dominant in the area.
Germany, for example, has followed in the footsteps of Trump’s America, setting up its own “Space Command” in 2021.
The new military wing will be responsible for overseeing satellites, as well as watching for space junk, as well as the activities of other countries.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party has also made major strides in recent years, once again placing a Chinese flag on the moon in late 2020.
More recently, a spacecraft launched by the country has also been the first to find water on the moon close up, according to a report by Space.com.
Communist China’s Chang’e 5 lunar lander found water at its landing site on the moon’s surface
One researcher has urged the United Kingdom to enter the scene in order to counter the strides made by China, with King’s College London’s Dr Mark Hilborne suggesting the old imperial power could make use of its overseas territories to help counter the CCP in space.
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