Environmental impact will be one of the pillars of future European space law

One strategy is no longer enough, now we are moving in your directionEU space law which also takes into account environmental issues of Union policy. The path towards one of the most important initiatives is being tracked before the end of the legislative mandate and, according to the European Commission’s calculations, it will arrive in the first quarter of 2024. Among the three pillars of the new regulation, Sustainability of space activities. This emerges from the public consultation launched by the Community Executive (with a deadline of 28 November), to collect comments from citizens, institutions and parties interested in defining new common rules at EU level for “Safe, resilient and sustainable space activities“, especially with regard to reducing space debris, the life cycle of space activities, and preventing light pollution of the night sky.

As the Authority determines when publishing the consultation, Feedback will be “taken into account” in the development and improvement phase of the initiativeThis would lead to the submission and adoption of a new proposal for an EU regulation early next year, before elections to renew the European Parliament in June. The aim is to define an EU law on space “To ensure a consistent approach“By the twenty-seven institutions and societies in the field of space policy. In the absence of a common regulation for all member states, the Union is currently trying to give itself a harmonious line through a space strategy.

The first was detailed on March 10 of this year, starting with the implementation of the approved strategic compass in 2022. “EU space systems and services are essential for the functioning of our society and economy, and for security and defence“, explained the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, explaining the need for a common definition of the space domain and the threats to the infrastructures of the 27 countries. Among the main defense challenges are also environmental (in space and on Earth) and climate, starting From the development of the European Union’s space programmes. In this sense, Brussels should launch two experimental test projects: one to provide primary space knowledge services, and the other for a new government Earth observation service, as part of the development of the Copernicus satellite programme.