The European Commission has claimed this Wednesday that the autonomous access of the European Union to space should be secured and that its rocket launch capacity should be strengthened in light of the notable increase in the demand for satellites expected for the next decade, warning that the future of the bloc in the space industry will be "at risk" if its capabilities are not expanded.
"Autonomous access to space is the most important objective. We must not depend on foreign rockets," emphasized the European Commissioner for Defense and Space, Andrius Kubilius, at the opening of the second Conference on Access to Space, where he described launches as the "most important strategic priority" for Europe.
Kubilius warned that the Old Continent is facing increasing competition — with more countries trying to place their satellites in orbit — in a context of "limited" launch opportunities, which is driving up costs and, in his view, calls into question the space aspirations of both the Member States and the EU as a whole.
The commissioner stressed that the challenge is not limited to the volume of launches, but also affects ground infrastructure. Therefore, he proposed to make the most of the European spaceport in French Guiana and the new facilities being established in various parts of Europe to weave a better-coordinated network.
"Our European space programs depend on this. Our defense and security depend on this," he emphasized, warning that the European capacity to "shape" and lead the space economy, as well as its future competitiveness and "strategic sovereignty and independence," is also at stake.
According to the projections presented by Kubilius, the European demand for launches "will multiply almost sixfold" in the coming years, driven by the increase in defense, governmental, and commercial satellites. Only the EU, he specified, will require "62 launches by 2034" for programs such as Galileo, Copernicus, or the IRIS2 constellation.
In this context, he warned that the current launch capacity will not be enough to absorb that volume. Ariane, the family of rockets from the European Space Agency (ESA), plans to carry out ten annual launches, below the 14 that Europe will need in 2031. Vega, another launcher from the ESA, will be able to perform six launches a year compared to the eight that are estimated to be necessary in 2030.
Increase investment and end fragmentation
The European commissioner has also identified the low investment and the fragmentation of the space ecosystem as two of the main brakes to compete with other powers. Currently, Europe ranks fourth in the world by mass put into orbit, behind the United States, China, and Russia, and is also lagging in key technologies such as reusable rockets.
In this regard, he has recalled that Europe concentrates 11% of global public investment in the space sector, compared to 60% of the United States and 15% of China, while in private financing it has fallen from second to third place, also surpassed by the Asian giant.
"We are fragmented and divided, with fragmented space markets and fragmented launch capabilities," lamented Kubilius, defending the urgency of mobilizing more public and private capital and better coordinating European resources to avoid overlaps.
He also announced that next year he plans to present a specific action plan on European access to space and that in the coming dates he will embark on a tour of launch bases, factories, and testing centers in Europe to identify the main bottlenecks and analyze how to increase production and efficiency.
"Europe has the engineering capability and the industrial capacity, but now we need ambition, speed, and scale and, above all, we need unity," concluded the commissioner, emphasizing that the security, strategic autonomy, and competitiveness of the EU depend on ensuring independent access to space.