YEESS addresses position paper to EU
Published on Sun, 19.02.2023 – 07:15 CET in Politics, covering YEESS24 February 2023 marks the first anniversary of Russia's unjustified invasion of Ukraine. The past 12 months have shown that space technology is essential for intelligence and communication. In a position paper, the YEESS initiative calls on the EU to build a European space strategy around three key factors. Money is one of them.
The authors welcome the development of an ambitious EU space strategy for security and defence. Finally, the current geopolitical situation demonstrates the extreme dependence on satellite-based services. This underlines the importance of an autonomous, sovereign and resilient space infrastructure. But national strategies alone would not be sufficient to protect European security in borderless space. In order to properly implement a European strategy and develop a tailor-made toolkit, it should receive strong financial support from the European Commission. The strategy should also include the strengthening of innovation, autonomy and competitiveness, and incorporate European capabilities and expertise. According to the authors, this is necessary to respond to immediate needs while preparing for medium to long-term threats. Capabilities should be built around three key vectors.
1) Responsive Space
A range of non-interdependent turnkey technological solutions should be developed at European level. These include competitive supply and value chains in the upstream (e.g. launchers and satellites) and downstream (e.g. Earth observation) sectors. On the other hand, the ability to understand the current situation in space (Space Situational Awareness). Priority will also be given to the last mile, i.e. automated rendezvous, approach, docking and undocking operations.
2) Agile procurement
The position paper calls for new industrial and procurement policies. In order to respond to future threats in the best and fastest way possible, calls for tenders should be more demand-driven, rather than too technology-oriented, as is currently the case. In particular, start-ups and scale-ups should be given realistic opportunities to participate in the acceleration of space activities.
3) Engagement of the NewSpace capabilities
Equal rights for NewSpace start-ups are also called for. As stated in the position paper, they should be given guaranteed opportunities to provide rapid and practical answers alongside established industrial players. This is because they can add value to the strategy by delivering the technical performance and reliability required in defence and security.
Position paper signed by international NewSpace start-ups
In September 2021, NewSpace start-ups founded YEESS (Young European Entreprises Syndicate Space). The initiative is a registered association recognised in Belgium and open to all young space companies. To be eligible for membership, they must have been founded more than two years but less than 10 years ago at the time of joining. They must also be based in a European Union country or an ESA member state. Members are Satlantis, Anywaves, exotrail, constellR, Pangea Aerospace, aerospacelab, U-Space, Exolaunch, unseenlabs and Isar Aerospace.
