27-28 April 2021
The European Space Policy Group recently held its 12th workshop on the theme of “Space and Sustainability” at a time when all eyes are on the sky. Space is popular in the media these days, ranging from topics like the International Space Station, the SpaceX program, and even space debris, yet the topic of sustainability is not often discussed.
However, with the constant increase in space activities in both the public and private sectors, sustainable development is becoming a key issue. In the near future, we will most likely see regulations that already apply to long-established industries being also applied to the space industry.
ESSCA’s 12th Space Policy workshop highlighted ten outstanding research papers which covered all aspects of sustainability: economic, environmental, social, and even political sustainability. These presentations will be included in a book edited by Dr Lorna Ryan (London City University) and Dr Thomas Hoerber (ESSCA / EU*Asia Institute). The book is scheduled to be published in 2022 by the Routledge book series “Space Power and Politics.“
ESSCA‘s standing Space Policy Group workshop featured two Master‘s thesis presentations by ESSCA students, both of which provided insight into cutting-edge topics. Maxime Nicolas explored the importance of private investment in the space industry and Laurène Laffin highlighted the importance of European Political Sustainability for 5G deployment.
The EU*Asia Institute‘s research assistants Jeanne-Gérard Wague and Robin Miquel seized the opportunity to conduct short interviews with these two in-house talents:
Interview with Laurène LAFFIN: 5G for a European Political Sustainability
Interview with Maxime NICOLAS: The importance of private investment in the space industry
The workshop’s full programme is available here
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, we were not able to have the conference in Frascati, Italy as originally planned. However, thanks to space technology and our hosts ESA/ESRIN, our conference was held virtually.
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