India can be a really active player in developing an international framework for responsible behaviour in house, mentioned Marjolijn van Deelen, European Union Special Envoy for Space, whereas flagging particles from Anti-Satellite (ASAT) weapon testing and Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) that threaten satellites as main considerations.
As India and EU look to deepen strategic cooperation, they’re additionally trying to maintain a “space dialogue” as a primary step for collaboration in the house sector.
“I think it would be important to jointly look at how we would want to regulate, in a way, these RPOs… to have international agreements on what is okay and what is not okay. And for that, we are setting up this framework for norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviour and India and the EU could cooperate on setting out how we think they should be regulated in a way that does not pose a threat to us,” Ms. van Deelen mentioned, whereas chatting with The Hindu. “RPOs in themselves are not necessarily a problem. You don’t want to a solution that also kills all the programmes and the civilian benefits we can have from them.”
Rendezvous and proximity operations, or RPOs, check with a spacecraft deliberately manoeuvring to dock or working shut to a different house object.
Asked if India’s ASAT check was a matter of concern, the envoy mentioned, “The creation of debris by ASAT is something that should concern all states and we’ve spoken about that and that’s why the EU has supported in the UN context a ban on destructive ASAT testing. The word ‘destructive’ is key here.”
To a follow-up query on whether or not there had been a dialog with regard to India’s ASAT programme, she replied there haven’t been any discussions but and her conversations right here will be “about how we cooperate”.
In March 2019, India introduced the profitable demonstration of ASAT functionality, after destroying a live-orbiting satellite tv for pc in the Low Earth Orbit of round 300 km with a brand new three-stage interceptor missile in a “hit to kill” mode.
Speaking of the highest considerations, the envoy, whose go to adopted the historic go to of EU Commissioners led by President Ursula von der Leyen, famous that a number of international locations had examined ASAT weapons. “But we also see cyber jamming and spoofing in space, which are threats to delivering services to our citizens. We also see RPOs, which basically involves having a satellite get very close to your satellite, and if that is without notification and if that is done by an actor with whom we do not have friendly relations, and especially if our satellite is a sensitive one… that’s something we need to talk about. So these are the threats that we see, maybe the key ones on the security side.”
There are additionally particles circulating in house that makes it very troublesome for operators to function their satellites safely and naturally any accidents might doubtlessly occur in an unintended manner, she noticed.
The envoy’s go to to India final week coincided with the Global Technology Summit organised by Carnegie India in coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs, the place she was a speaker. She mentioned the meet was additionally a chance to work together with numerous stakeholders.
On the proposed house dialogue, she mentioned there was a necessity for the regulation of the house sector itself in order that each side can see the place there are discrepancies or gaps that have to be addressed, or if something that might be completed to assist create a vibrant setting for companies to function. “I’m really hoping that we will deepen our engagement and set up a space security dialogue so that we can sit down with all the actors on each side and go in depth on all these topics,” Ms. van Deelen acknowledged.
The EU is ready to convey in a Space Act in the subsequent few months, which the envoy termed may be very a lot an instrument designed for European competitiveness. While reiterating that it doesn’t regulate third events, she mentioned the Act tries to make sure EU corporations cooperate extra intently in order that the bloc doesn’t “get 27 individual space programmes, but do that more jointly”. “…But also that they respect certain safety measures and sustainability measures, because we would want our industry to uphold those principles. So that’s what the what the Act when it comes out is designed to do,” she added.
Published – April 20, 2025 09:01 pm IST
