EU Space Act will stifle innovation, analysts say
Commentators fear a repeat of GDPR, which hurt small- and medium-sized firms, added costs for businesses and consumers, and hampered innovation.
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Hello, and welcome to this week’s edition of The View from Space.
⭐️ Analysts warn that the EU Space Act, published in June, is poised to ‘unleash a Pandora’s box of consequences, including putting a brake on innovation and raising the costs of doing business in space’. Kevin M. O'Connell and Clayton Swope gave their thoughts in Payload:
‘Like the GDPR, officials have written the EU Space Act to extend well beyond Europe. The act would apply to any space operator with virtually any connection to Europe—placing many, if not all, US space companies under its purview. …
These new rules will impose direct financial costs on US companies, let alone European ones—a fact recognized by EU officials. An impact assessment conducted by the European Commission concluded that the authorization process for each satellite or space-based product would cost upwards of €100K ($116K) and for each launcher anywhere from €200K to €1.5M ($232K to $1.7M).
Those estimates don’t even account for the costs that will arise from efforts to meet the act’s new requirements for everything from environmental assessments, to cybersecurity, to orbital debris mitigation—which will likely have a trickle-down effect on technical and engineering decisions affecting satellite and constellation design. ‘
💷 The British radio transmitter company Filtronic has landed a £50 million deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to support its Starlink internet service, reports The Times:
‘Filtronic, which makes radio frequency transmitters and receivers, said it was the first order for its new radio frequency technology, which claims to offer improved efficiency, more power and better temperature control, and its largest order from SpaceX to date.
The ground-breaking technology will be used in the Starlink constellation, which is a network of more than 6,750 satellites orbiting the Earth, more than 300 miles away.
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The satellites provide Starlink users in remote locations or without internet infrastructure with a swift internet connection. It has been used to provide internet access to Ukraine’s embattled troops despite damage to the country’s infrastructure.’
🇬🇧 The UK Space Agency is to be folded into the Department for Science, Information and Technology, reports the BBC, with the government saying it will save money, cut duplication and ensure ministerial oversight. Critics fear the UKSA will become just another Whitehall department, subject to changing political whims:
‘UKSA was created 2010 in response to the growing importance of the sector to the economy. The development of small spacecraft, satellites and space instrumentation is a field that the UK excels at, thanks in part due to the agency. Its role is to develop the country's space strategy, coordinate research and commercial activities and liaise with international partners.
During its tenure UKSA saw a UK astronaut, Tim Peake, launched into space to work on the International Space Station and the development of Britain's own capability to launch small satellites and other small payloads into space from Scotland. The space sector generates an estimated £18.6bn a year and employs 55,000 people across the country.
Space minister Sir Chris Bryant said: "Bringing things in house means we can bring much greater integration and focus to everything we are doing while maintaining the scientific expertise and the immense ambition of the sector."
But supporters of the space agency fear that this will mean a loss of the agency's dynamic, proactive approach which has proved to be so successful for the UK's space science and its space industry. They fear there is a danger of moving to more bureaucratic, less incentivised ways of working, which were more typical of government departments, and were the reason the agency was created in the first place.’
"It feels like we're going to get stuck in the mud again," Dr Barber told BBC News.’
🔋 Researchers at King’s College London say that solar panels in space could provide 80 per cent of Europe’s renewable energy by 2025. The Guardian reports:
‘Using a detailed computer model of the continent’s future power grid, the researchers found that a system of space-based panels designed by Nasa could reduce the cost of the whole European power system by as much as 15%. It could also cut battery use by more than two-thirds.
The study, led by researchers at King’s College London, is the first to assess the possible impact of space solar energy on Europe. The space-based solar power (SBSP) panels that yielded the positive results uses a heliostat design. The design, which the system imitates, uses mirror-like reflectors to collect sunlight in orbit. The sunlight is then transmitted to stations on Earth and converted to electricity before it is delivered to an energy grid.
The computer model of the continent’s power grid spans 33 countries, and simulates electricity demand, generation and storage to identify the lowest-cost option to meet Europe’s electricity needs.’
🤖 WIRED reveals that China has installed a chatbot on its Tiangong space station. Wukong’s job is to improve safety, navigation and coordination in orbit:
‘“This system can provide rapid and effective information support for complex operations and fault handling by crew members, improving work efficiency, in-orbit psychological support, and coordination between space and ground teams,” Zou Pengfei of the taikonaut training center, told Xinhua.
Technicians connected the AI to Tiangong on July 15. It began providing support a month later, this being the first time that China’s space station has used a large language model (LLM) during in-orbit missions. Wukong AI assisted the crew on a six-and-a-half-hour mission, which involved taikonauts installing space debris protection devices during a spacewalk and performing a routine inspection of the station.
The taikonauts claim that their new assistant “offers very comprehensive content.” Chinese media describe Wukong AI as a classic question-and-answer system divided into two modules: one installed on the station, and one on Earth. The ground module performs in-depth analysis, while the module accompanying the crew solves immediate challenges. The combination of the two creates an advanced assistant capable of adapting to each mission.’
🌀 And the Sen Space TV-1 camera system on the International Space Station picked up these arresting shots of Hurricane Erin: