The Director General of the European Space Agency cautions: “A Chinese satellite passes over our location every five minutes”
During the opening of the Defence | Space | Cybersecurity event in Frascati, Italy, the Director General of the ESA, Josef Aschbacher, emphasized Europe’s lagging position in space technology compared to China and the United States. He highlighted the low number of satellites operated by European countries, in contrast to the vast satellite networks of China and the US. Aschbacher underscored Europe’s dependence on external sources for space information, particularly citing Ukraine’s reliance on the United States in a critical geopolitical context.
### Vulnerabilities exposed
Aschbacher discussed incidents that exposed Europe’s vulnerabilities in the space domain, such as the Russian interception of communications from the Athena Fidus satellite, Moscow’s anti-satellite weapon test, and the cyberattack on the company Viasat affecting Ukraine and infrastructure in Germany. He also mentioned jamming and spoofing practices in European countries, including an incident that interfered with the flight of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen to Sofia.
### A space resilience plan
In response to these challenges, Aschbacher proposed a pooling & sharing model to enhance capabilities among member states without compromising sovereignty. He highlighted the ESA’s role as a “security provider” and its support for critical infrastructures like the Copernicus and Iride programs. The European Resilience from Space project, to be presented at the Bremen summit, aims to enhance Earth observation, navigation with interference-resistant signals, and secure communications. The goal is to achieve an intelligence revisit time of 30 minutes or less, with the proposal to be submitted for approval at the ministerial meeting of the ESA Council. Aschbacher stressed the importance of Europe being prepared for space as a potential battleground in modern conflicts.
