The Importance of the European Space Agency’s Activities for the Security of the European Union

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the activities of the European Space Agency (ESA) make a significant contribution to the security of the European Union. Initially, neither the ESA's activities nor the original objectives for which it was established were connected with security issues. The ESA evolved from an international intergovernmental organization focused on the exploration and use of space for peaceful purposes into a major player with a significant impact on the security of the EU. The presumption made by this paper is that in order for this evolution to be possible, both the ESA and the EU have had to go a long way to find common ground and forms of possible cooperation, preceded by the required political and programmatic changes. For the EU, which was relatively late in taking an interest in space and its importance for security, space policy became a separate policy only under the Lisbon Treaty. At that time the EU granted to itself (shared) powers in this area. The paper will identify the most important reasons for and stages of this evolution, as expressed in policy documents. As this is still an ongoing process, remaining obstacles to the optimal use of the potential of both organizations to strengthen the security of the European Union will be identified. The paper was created on the basis of the descriptive method, analysis of the content of documents and synthesis.Since the beginning of the space age, space technologies have become very popular, to such an extent that today it is difficult to imagine our world without them. This applies to technologies used for both civilian and military purposes. Both the former and the latter serve, or may serve, to ensure security, but also may pose a serious threat, due to the increasing dependence of states and societies on space systems. There is a wide range of potential threats, from the possible use of anti-satellite weapons to hybrid operations and cyber-attacks that may disrupt or destabilize the functioning of the state. The contribution of European space systems as tools for the implementation of the Common Security and Defense Policy has been steadily increasing. As Europe faces ever-changing security threats that are more and more diverse, less predictable, and global in scope, the first line of response to crisis situations should already be outside of its borders. The space potential, in particular space assets and services, are priceless from the point of view of threat monitoring, early warning, surveillance, navigation and communication. It is therefore essential which increases the security of countries developing it, as an instrument to support technological innovation. However, this aspect, as well as the impact of space policy on a full-scale pro-innovation policy accelerating the technological development of the economies of modern states and the importance of space policy will not be analyzed in this paper.Countries with advanced space programs (the USA, Russia and China) make the most use of the space medium for securit...

Strategic communication at the European Space Agency: juxtaposing strategy and public attitudes

“…13-14]. ESA is now among the largest space agencies on Earth, with a diverse range of independent and inter-agency activities that have far-reaching socio-economic and environmental implications [e.g., Bryła, 2018;Euroconsult, 2019;PwC, 2019aPwC, , 2019b. As such, ESA has a responsibility towards a range of stakeholders that reaches beyond legitimising the expenditure of public funds [e.g., Gehman, Lefsrud & Fast, 2017].…”