European Commission Proposes Transforming EUSPA into European Union Space Services Agency

In the current geopolitical context, security and resilience in space and on Earth have become a key political priority for the Union.

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From the perspective of security and resilience, a key benefit of the proposal is the significant expansion of the Agency’s mandate to include new tasks. In particular, the Commission is to entrust the Agency with: providing GOVSATCOM and IRIS2 services to authorized users (primarily the security and emergency services of EU Member States).

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Furthermore, the Agency will manage contracts within the Secure Connectivity component; coordinate user aspects of the Secure Connectivity component; and provide Space Weather Events (SWE) services—that is, monitoring and forecasting space phenomena such as geomagnetic storms or radiation.

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The Agency will also be responsible for providing Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) services—that is, tracking objects in Earth orbit (regardless of whether they are operational satellites or so-called space debris); providing radio frequency interference monitoring services; and supporting space access projects. Last but not least, the Agency should also facilitate the anticipated development of the space industry, whether in the area of potential resource extraction or space tourism. Of course, the Agency will also provide cybersecurity support for space projects.

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The proposal explicitly establishes requirements for continuous operational readiness, which may have a direct impact on the Agency’s contractual partners. To safeguard the continuity and resilience of the Union’s space services, particularly in a crisis situation, it is essential that Agency staff remain available on a continuous basis (24/7).

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The Agency shall ensure that contractual operators possess the necessary competencies, redundancy, and operational capability to ensure the continuity of service provision to authorized users during crises or prolonged outages. This is a fundamental requirement for all companies that enter into or intend to enter into contracts with the Agency.

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The Agency shall continue to provide security accreditation, for example, for the approval of security procedures for satellite launches, authorizations to operate space systems, or authorizations to operate ground stations. Accreditation activities are to be carried out on the basis of collective responsibility for the security of the Union and the Member States, and technical accreditation tasks are to be entrusted to a specialized Security Accreditation Board (SAB), which is to remain an autonomous body within the Agency that makes its decisions independently and objectively.

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New elements in the area of security accreditation include, in particular: the possibility for the SAB to grant a single approval for satellite constellations; the possibility for the Commission to request a decision within three months, whereby if no decision is made within this period, it is deemed positive; and the requirement to adopt SAB decisions based on information to which the Commission had access and on which it had the opportunity to express an opinion.

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According to the proposal, the regulation will apply from January 1, 2028. Whether this proposal is overly ambitious will become clear during the upcoming legislative process, which is still in its early stages. On the other hand, this does not involve establishing a completely new entity, but rather a change in the competencies of an existing agency, and the issue of security is becoming increasingly urgent in the EU.

‍Note: This article was localized from the Czech original via AI.

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