High-Level Dialogue: How a growing space ecosystem can be better leveraged to achieve the SDGs?

Summary

This discussion focused on how growing space ecosystems can be leveraged to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, featuring four expert panelists examining different aspects of the space industry. Alexandre Vallet, moderating from the ITU, emphasized that satellite technology has evolved from limited applications to a comprehensive space ecosystem that extends far beyond providing broadband connectivity to underserved areas.

Almudena Azcarate-Ortega from UNIDIR explained that space security involves preventing deliberate harm to space systems, distinguishing it from space safety which addresses unintentional hazards. She highlighted that while the Outer Space Treaty provides a legal framework, there is no specific treaty addressing space security concerns, leading to ongoing multilateral discussions about norms and responsible behavior in space. The lack of common understanding of terminology across different languages and legal systems presents significant challenges in international negotiations.

Dr. Ingo Baumann discussed the practical role of space lawyers, noting that over 50 countries now have national space laws, with Europe proposing the first regional EU Space Act. He emphasized that modern space legislation focuses increasingly on national competitiveness and fostering space ecosystems rather than merely implementing international obligations.

Bruno Bechard from Kineis described how their IoT satellite constellation supports SDGs through wildlife tracking, environmental monitoring, and supply chain optimization, covering 85% of Earth’s surface not served by terrestrial networks. However, he noted that narrowband services face regulatory challenges different from broadband providers.

Chloe Saboye-Pasquier from Ridespace explained their role as launch brokers helping satellite operators navigate complex regulatory requirements across multiple jurisdictions. She identified radio frequency registration delays and the need for consistent international regulations as major barriers for newcomers to space.

The discussion concluded that while space technology offers tremendous potential for achieving SDGs, success depends on addressing security challenges, harmonizing legal frameworks, and ensuring accessible regulatory processes for emerging space actors.

Keypoints

## Major Discussion Points:

– **Space Security Framework and Challenges**: Discussion of what constitutes space security (deliberate threats vs. accidental hazards), current governance through treaties like the Outer Space Treaty, and emerging threats including counter-space capabilities, space debris, and cyber attacks on space systems.

– **Legal and Regulatory Frameworks for Space Activities**: Examination of the evolution of national space laws from basic international treaty compliance to competitive frameworks supporting national space ecosystems, including the proposed EU Space Act as a potential model for regional harmonization.

– **Innovative Space Services Supporting SDGs**: Presentation of concrete examples including Kineis’s IoT satellite services for environmental monitoring, wildlife tracking, and supply chain management, demonstrating how space technologies directly contribute to Sustainable Development Goals.

– **Barriers to Space Access and Market Entry**: Discussion of obstacles facing new space companies and countries, including regulatory complexity, radio frequency registration delays, inconsistent national laws, and the need for better coordination between different regulatory frameworks.

– **Future Priorities and Solutions**: Identification of urgent needs including improved international cooperation, standardized terminology in multilateral discussions, enhanced transparency and confidence-building measures, and potential revival of international organizational models for certain space applications.

## Overall Purpose:

The discussion aimed to explore how the growing space ecosystem can be better leveraged to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, examining both the current state of space security, legal frameworks, and innovative services, while identifying barriers and future priorities for making space technologies more accessible and effective in addressing global challenges.

## Overall Tone:

The discussion maintained a professional, collaborative, and forward-looking tone throughout. Speakers demonstrated expertise while acknowledging challenges, and the conversation was constructive rather than critical. The tone remained consistently optimistic about space technology’s potential to address global issues, while being realistic about current obstacles and the complexity of international coordination required to overcome them.

Speakers

– **Alexandre Vallet** – Chief of the Space Services Department in the ITU Radio Communication Bureau, Session Moderator

– **Almudena Azcarate Ortega** – Lead Space Security Researcher at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), Scholar specializing in space security and multilateral discussions

– **Bruno Bechard** – Chief Technical Officer at Kineis (LEO satellite operator), Former CTO of Rivada Space Networks, Background in Orange Group with experience in fixed, mobile, satellite and IT sectors

– **Ingo Baumann** – Founding Partner of BH Oligar (British technology law firm based in Cologne, Germany), Space Law Practitioner specializing in national, European and international high-technology projects, Member of the International Institute of Space Law and the UPN Center for Space Law

– **Chloe Saboye Pasquier** – Multi-launcher Launch Mission Manager at Hyde Space, Specialist in managing cross-field teams and launch campaigns, Expert in regulatory matters including radio frequency registration and compliance

Additional speakers:

None identified beyond the provided speakers names list.

# Leveraging Growing Space Ecosystems for Sustainable Development Goals: A Panel Discussion Report

## Executive Summary

This expert panel discussion, moderated by Alexandre Vallet from the ITU Radio Communication Bureau, examined how the rapidly expanding space ecosystem can be leveraged to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Held on the final day of the YCS plus 20 high level event, the session brought together four distinguished speakers representing different facets of the space industry: space security research, legal frameworks, satellite operations, and launch services.

Vallet opened by noting that 22 years ago, the 2003 World Summit on the Information Society plan of action already recognized satellite technology’s role in development. Since then, the industry has evolved from “a limited set of satellite markets into a full space ecosystem.” The discussion revealed both the tremendous potential of modern space technologies and the significant challenges that must be addressed to fully realize this potential, including regulatory gaps, security vulnerabilities, and the need for enhanced international coordination.

## Space Security Framework and Contemporary Challenges

Almudena Azcarate Ortega from UNIDIR provided foundational clarity by distinguishing between space security and space safety—a distinction critical for understanding the regulatory landscape. She explained that “space security deals more with those intentional threats or intentional harms, and then space safety deals with unintentional harms.”

Contrary to common perceptions, Azcarate Ortega emphasized that space security does not exist in a legal vacuum. The Outer Space Treaty provides a legal framework of principles relevant to space security concerns, though she acknowledged there is no specific treaty addressing space security comprehensively. Current governance relies on various non-binding mechanisms and ongoing multilateral discussions through UN bodies, including the Group of Governmental Experts and the Open-Ended Working Group.

The security challenges facing space systems are increasingly sophisticated, including kinetic attacks (physical destruction of satellites), non-kinetic attacks (jamming, spoofing, cyber attacks), and electronic warfare capabilities. These counter-space capabilities pose significant dangers not only to space systems themselves but also to Earth-based services that depend on satellite infrastructure.

Azcarate Ortega highlighted the connection between terrestrial geopolitics and space security: “Space security is influenced by the geopolitical climate that we have on Earth… The more tense that relations are on Earth, the more tense, or the more lack of trust that we will see when it comes to space activities.”

A significant barrier to effective space security governance is the lack of common understanding of terminology across different languages and legal systems. Azcarate Ortega noted that “in Spanish, for example, the same word is used for both security and safety.” To address this issue, UNIDIR has developed a space security lexicon available at spacesecuritylexicon.org in six official languages.

## Evolution of Legal Frameworks and Regulatory Approaches

Dr. Ingo Baumann provided a historical perspective on the evolution of space law, identifying three distinct phases in national space legislation development. The first phase focused purely on implementing international law obligations. The second phase emerged around university and startup projects, as governments recognized the need to support emerging space activities. The third and ongoing phase represents a shift towards national competitiveness, with space laws increasingly designed to enhance a country’s position in the global space economy.

This evolution reflects how governments now view space activities as a strategic sector requiring active promotion rather than just careful regulation. Baumann noted that more than 50 countries now have national space laws, with 13 out of 27 EU countries having established frameworks.

The proposed EU Space Act represents a significant development as the first supranational space law framework. Baumann suggested this could serve as a model for other regions, potentially offering a middle path between purely national approaches and global governance mechanisms.

Baumann’s professional experience revealed that space lawyers work across three main areas: government consultancy on policy and regulatory matters, public procurement for space programmes, and commercial contracts between space companies. Interestingly, he suggested that international collaboration models from the 1970s-80s satellite organizations might still be relevant for addressing current global challenges, noting that “if we would bring maybe a bit more of international collaboration and mechanisms to that sometimes we may be faster to really find stable solutions for the problems we are looking to.”

## Innovative Space Services Supporting Sustainable Development

Bruno Bechard from Kineis provided concrete examples of how modern space technologies directly contribute to SDGs. Kineis operates 25 nanosatellites at 650 kilometers altitude with 20 ground stations, providing Internet of Things (IoT), localization, and maritime tracking services. This represents a significant upgrade to the 40-year-old Argos system—improving capabilities by a factor of 100.

The scope of applications demonstrates space technology’s potential beyond traditional connectivity services. Kineis’s services enable wildlife tracking for conservation efforts, environmental monitoring including fire detection, and supply chain optimization. These applications cover approximately 85% of Earth’s surface not served by terrestrial networks.

Bechard emphasized that building successful space ecosystems requires comprehensive support structures: “Building ecosystems requires training programs and information sharing to help universities and partners develop applications using new space technologies.”

However, Bechard identified significant regulatory challenges facing narrowband services. Unlike broadband providers, narrowband IoT services require different regulatory frameworks and licensing conditions, with affordable fees that match their smaller business cases. Current regulatory approaches often fail to account for these differences, creating barriers to market entry and service development.

## Market Access Barriers and Operational Complexities

Chloe Saboye Pasquier from Ridespace provided insights into practical challenges facing newcomers to the space industry. As a launch solution broker, Ridespace connects satellite operators with launch providers while managing complex regulatory compliance requirements across multiple jurisdictions. The company achieved “the first completely private launch mission between China and foreign countries.”

The complexity of multi-jurisdictional operations was illustrated through a concrete scenario: “We have to imagine the worst case scenario for us would be to have a satellite for one country launching on a launch vehicle for another country, but actually this launch vehicle use a launch site from a third country. So basically we would be under three different national registration in addition to all the international or regional institutions.”

Radio frequency registration presents particular difficulties for small satellite missions. Saboye Pasquier noted that delays of 4-6 months for APAA registration create significant barriers, especially for missions with short operational lifespans. The inefficiency of current spectrum allocation systems was highlighted through the observation that many registered frequencies remain unused while newcomers struggle to access spectrum for short-term missions.

Looking towards future technologies, Saboye Pasquier identified direct-to-device satellite services using constellation-to-constellation communication as an emerging area requiring new regulatory approaches. These services would eliminate the need for ground stations by communicating through existing constellations.

The need for consistency and mutual recognition between different national space regulations emerged as a critical priority. Saboye Pasquier emphasized that “we need consistency and mutual recognition between different national space regulations to enable multi-jurisdictional missions.”

## Key Challenges and Proposed Solutions

The discussion identified several critical unresolved issues requiring continued attention. Regulatory frameworks for narrowband IoT services lag behind those for broadband, creating market access barriers. Radio frequency registration delays continue to impede small satellite missions, particularly in countries without dedicated space agencies.

The absence of mechanisms for sharing unused radio frequency allocations prevents efficient spectrum utilization. Space traffic management and debris mitigation require enhanced international coordination beyond current voluntary guidelines. The growing threat of counter-space capabilities demands improved security measures and international cooperation.

Several concrete solutions emerged from the discussion. Adapting international collaboration models from earlier satellite organizations could provide frameworks for addressing global challenges through space technologies. Building ecosystems through training programs and information sharing could help develop applications using new space technologies.

Creating rental or sharing mechanisms for radio frequency bands could help newcomers access spectrum for short-term missions while improving overall efficiency. Establishing better communication channels between national regulators could address regulatory disparities and improve coordination for multi-jurisdictional operations.

## Implications for Sustainable Development

The discussion revealed that space technologies offer significant opportunities for achieving SDGs, but realizing this potential requires addressing fundamental challenges in governance, security, and accessibility. The evolution from limited satellite applications to comprehensive space ecosystems creates new possibilities for addressing global challenges while demanding more sophisticated regulatory approaches.

The connection between space security and terrestrial geopolitics suggests that achieving sustainable space development requires addressing broader issues of international relations and trust-building. The linguistic and cultural barriers to effective multilateral cooperation highlight the need for enhanced communication between different stakeholders.

The democratization of space access enables more diverse applications and innovations but also creates regulatory complexity that existing frameworks struggle to address.

## Conclusion

This discussion demonstrated that leveraging growing space ecosystems for sustainable development requires a multifaceted approach addressing technical, legal, political, and cultural challenges. The speakers revealed both the tremendous potential of modern space technologies and the significant barriers that must be overcome to fully realize this potential.

The path forward requires enhanced international cooperation, regulatory modernization, and ecosystem building to fully leverage space technologies for global challenges. Success depends on addressing not just technological and regulatory challenges, but also fundamental issues of international cooperation and governance.

The recording of this session will be made available online on the YCIS website, ensuring broader access to these important discussions. The challenge now lies in translating these insights into concrete policy actions and international cooperation mechanisms that enable space technologies to make their full contribution to achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

Alexandre Vallet: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . start and good morning and welcome to the final day of the YCS plus 20 high level event. My name is Alexandre Vallée, I’m the chief of the space services department in the IQ radio communication bureau, and I will moderate this session this morning. We are going to discuss the theme of how growing space ecosystems can be better leveraged to achieve these sustainable development goals. And let me start by providing you with a bit of context. As you may have noted, probably satellite technology is now very often quoted, even in the non-specialized press, as having a crucial role to play in providing connectivity and bridging the digital divide. Interestingly enough, the plan of action that was adopted at the end of the first session of the World Summit on the Information Society back in December 2003 was already recognizing this role by calling to develop and strengthen national, regional, and international broadband network infrastructure, including delivery by satellite and other systems, in order to help in providing the capacity to match the needs of countries and their citizens and for the delivery of new ICT-based services. You see, 22 years ago, this was already a goal of the OASIS. Since 2003, however, thanks to innovation from the satellite industry, satellite applications have considerably evolved and have even transformed from a limited set of satellite markets into a full space ecosystem. And today, satellite technologies cannot be confined anymore to the delivery of global broadband connectivity services for underserved areas. But even if this goal remains extremely difficult, it is not an easy task to achieve in the long term. So, I would like to thank you for your attention, and I would like to invite you to join us next time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. important, we can see that service innovation and new satellite technologies offer promises of implementing a more comprehensive space ecosystem. We will offer more solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The crucial building block of the space ecosystem is law. Not only space law, but a comprehensive and sound legal frameworks that are providing the necessary legal certainty and stability for the space economy to flourish. However, all these initiatives and innovations are in vain if they cannot be deployed, used and commercialized in a peaceful environment. This is why also ensuring security in outer space is crucial in the years to come. Especially if we really want to benefit from the new applications and the space technologies that are currently emerging. This is why these sessions will aim at providing you with an understanding of potential security challenges posed by the growing use of outer space, also give you a better grasp of the diversity of space applications today, and also give you or provide you with more insights into the key legal challenges that remain to create a true full space economy. In this session, I am joined by four wonderful remote panelists. First, Ms. Almudena Skarate-Urtega, the lead space security researcher at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, UNIDIR. In her position, she has led UNIDIR’s participation in several multilateral discussions on space security, including the 2022-2023 UN Open-Ended Working Group on Reducing Space Through to spread threats through norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviour. She’s also an eminent scholar who has widely published and briefed UN member states on the topic of space security. So she will provide very useful insights on this matter. The second panelist is Mr Bruno Bechard, the Chief Technical Officer at Kinesis, which is a LEO satellite operator dedicated to low data rate applications like Internet of Things, AIS or localisation services. He will tell us more about what his company is offering during this session. Bruno has spent most of his career with the Orange Group, where he held a number of positions of responsibility in both engineering and operations in the fixed, mobile, satellite and IT sectors. For the past two years, he was also CTO of Rivada Space Networks. A background of both traditional telco and a more space-oriented turn of career recently. Thank you very much for joining me. Dr Ingo Bormann is the founding partner of BH Oligar. It’s a British technology law firm based in Cologne, Germany. He specialises in national, European and international high-technology projects, mostly in the space industry. His customers include leading stakeholders such as the European Commission, European Space Agency, German Space Agency or large satellite operators, but also SME and new space start-ups. He has a broad experience and practice in the field of practical space law, a bit opposed to theoretical space law. He will give us his view as a practitioner in space law. It is worth noting that Dr Bormann is also a member of the International Institute… Institute of Space Law and the UPN Center for Space Law. And finally, Ms. Chloé Saboyer-Pasquier, a multi-launcher launch mission manager at Hyde Space, with more than 15 missions launched or in progress. And Ms. Pasquier will also provide us more information about what exactly what kind of services the company is providing later in the panel. But just to mention that she herself specializes in managing cross-field teams and then to ensure mission readiness and leading the launch campaigns for the customers of Hyde Space. So this includes support for logistics, for regulatory matters, such as radio frequency registration, transportation, to ensure compliance with all national and international regulation of satellite. So let me now start maybe with the topic of space security and turn to Almudena for a first question. Based on your quite rich experience in the field of space security, could you shed for our audience some light on what is space security exactly and how it is currently ensured? Because we don’t really hear in the press that something is going wrong in space. So it should be ensured currently. Please, you have the floor. Thank you.

Almudena Azcarate Ortega: Thank you very much, Alexandre. And thank you also to the ITU for the invitation. It’s such a shame that I couldn’t be there in person. But I’m very pleased to be here today sharing this panel with other wonderful speakers. So when we talk about space security, particularly at the multilateral level, we refer to the relationship that exists among space objects and activities and the maintenance of peace and security and disarmament, including what we call the prevention of unauthorised in outer space, or PAROS, which is the sort of agenda item under which all space. security discussions are held at the UN level. Space security discussions in the United Nations are discussed in different fora, such as the Conference on Disarmament, the First Committee of the General Assembly and the Disarmament Commission. And space security is also commonly understood to refer to measures designed to prevent deliberate harms to space systems. So I do want to highlight that deliberate aspect of the harms include, and when I talk about space system, I talk about the space system as a whole, but also its component parts. And the reason why I underscored the deliberate harms or the intentional threats undertaken by another actor is because this is different to space safety, which is another area of multinatural space security, sorry, multinatural space discussions that we have at the UN. Space safety relates more closely to the peaceful uses of our space. Those are the kinds of conversations that are happening in Copios in Vienna. And it’s understood to refer to the measures aimed at preventing accidental or unintentional hazards to space systems. So to recap, space security deals more with those intentional threats or intentional harms, and then space safety deals with unintentional harms. And those unintentional harms could be anything from natural occurring hazards like solar flares or also human made, but as long as they are unintentional, they fall under the purview of Copios, whereas intentional threats fall under the purview of Paris. And to the second part of your question, what sort of governs space security? How do we control that space is being maintained as a secure environment? It’s interesting because even though the main space treaties that everybody in the room is probably familiar with, such as the Outer Space Treaty and the Subsequent Treaties, actually originated from security concerns during the Cold War. So essentially, states were afraid that the Cold War could extend to outer space because of certain weapons tests that were being conducted beyond the atmosphere. And that’s what prompted the international community to start negotiating the Outer Space Treaty. The text of the Outer Space Treaty and also the Subsequent International Treaties don’t really focus on space security issues. That being said, space security doesn’t actually exist in a legal vacuum. The Outer Space Treaty does provide a robust legal framework of principles that are relevant to space security concerns. Article 4 is an example of this, so the prohibition of the placement, installation or stationing of weapons of mass destruction in orbit, as well as the placement of any types of weapons in intellectual bodies. So that’s an example of that. Article 3 of the Outer Space Treaty also establishes the applicability of international law as a whole to the outer space environment. And this means also arms control treaties, general international laws such as international humanitarian law, law of the sea, air law, all of which are relevant to space security. So all of those apply to space as well. As well as multiple non-legally binding mechanisms such as expert control agreements like the Wassenaar Arrangement, the MTCR and other agreements like the H code of conduct are also relevant to space security. And then we also have the international community realising, OK, because we don’t have a specific treaty or a specific mechanism that deals explicitly with space security, we really want to focus on that in our multi-stakeholder approach. That’s why Paros, the prevention of an armistice in outer space, was born as an agenda item within the United Nations. And in this context of Paros discussions, multiple initiatives have been brought forward, both legally binding treaties as well as non-legally binding mechanisms, a draft treaty on the prohibition of the placement of weapons, as well as the threats and the use of force in outer space, which was proposed by Russia and China a few years ago. And it’s recently brought back as an example of what a legally binding document on space security could look like. There’s also been multiple groups of governmental experts that have recommended the implementation of transparency and confidence building measures for space security. Also you mentioned when you introduced me, Alexandra, the open-ended working group on reducing threats to space that systems through norms, rules and principles are responsible behaviours. So those are proposals of non-legally binding mechanisms to ensure space security. So even though we don’t yet have a concrete treaty on space security issues, there has been multiple conversations and there continue to be multiple conversations about this topic. So this really highlights the importance that states place on space security precisely because of all those reasons that you were mentioning during your introduction, how essential space infrastructure is for humanity and humankind’s daily lives. So we do try to address it at the multilateral level and even at the domestic level or regional level as well. States are also establishing their own doctrines, their own strategies to ensure that space is kept as a secure and peaceful domain. I could say a lot more, but I’m going to leave it at that. I’ll be very interested to hear what the rest of the panellists have to say and eager to continue the conversation. of this discussion. Thank you very much.

Alexandre Vallet: Thank you very much, Sharmilina. And yes, we will discuss more about the future of space security as well in the second part of the panel. Following your presentation and your explanation, I think we have now understood how obviously space security is a key element for ensuring stable operations in space. But this is also true from good legal frameworks. So we can say that for good legal frameworks for space activities. And this is why I would like now to turn to Ingo Bergman to give us an explanation more of more practitioner aspects. And could you explain to us what a space lawyer is doing specifically on a more routine basis, not only the dealing with treaties. And in particular, could you give us some example of your roles and actions, the role of an action of a space lawyer in the development and deployment of a satellite project?

Ingo Baumann: Yeah, good morning, everybody. Alexandra, many thanks for having me. It’s great to be here. Yeah, space lawyer from a law firm point of view, it’s still, it’s let’s say a bit unusual compared to other law firms, et cetera. It’s a lot of academic, a lot of academic activities. Book chapters, book publications, articles, conference panels like today and so on. So that makes a big part. Otherwise, I would say it’s mostly three areas. One is more study consultancy work for governments or governmental agencies. And in our European case, also of course the EU bodies on national space legislation, either for developing it for the first time or reviewing, modernizing, amending them. the development of national industry and technology progress and so on. So we do quite a lot of larger, longer projects for governments, mostly on Europe, but also increasingly in other areas, the Arabian countries, for example, advising on how to establish national space law, or how to solve certain specific legal issues linked to national space programs. That is also an area, and that leads to the second part, is let’s say public procurement of space systems, space services, and you name it, whereby this is split sometimes, and still the majority we work also for governmental agencies to assist in preparation and conduction of public procurement, but it can also be on the commercial side to help to review the conditions, to make sound offers, to do negotiations, and also then the contract management. And the last part is then really commercial, so all the type of, let’s say, contractual arrangements between commercial space companies, starting from NDA up to, let’s say, ordering a whole bunch of satellites or launch service agreements, space insurance contracts, hosted payload, or also looking into new applications like reentry vehicles or in-space manufacturing and on-orbit services, different terminologies here, ISOM, ISOS, and so on. So these are the main areas. Looking to national space law, of course, we have an increasing number of countries with national space law. I think it’s now more than 50 already and constantly increasing within Europe, 27 member states. We have 13 countries, so almost half with national space laws, but many others are working on them. And those with older space laws are also either having already concluded processes of modernizing or in the process of modernizing. So that is worldwide. It’s, of course, a strong and ongoing activity. And what we see here, what I always say also in my more academic works, you can, even if it’s overlapping and so on, but you can have that in phases. The first phase of national space laws was really purely looking to the international law, the treaties, the obligations of states under the treaties and how to implement them. So these national space laws tend to be rather international law focused and rather short. Then we had a whole wave of national space laws surrounding university projects, first spin off, first small companies in a country. So we have, especially in Europe, we have a whole series of national space laws which were built in this 2005, 2012 area. Then the third and still ongoing phase is now really looking into national competitiveness. How can we foster the national ecosystem? How can we support startups, job creation? International competitiveness, both on national as in the industrial level. So the perspective on national space law has changed quite a lot. And now, since a few days, we have something even more new on the table, which is the first proposal for a regional or supranational space law. Many of you may have heard that the European Commission has made a legislative proposal for an EU Space Act. This will be a longer process, but if adopted, we will be able to implement it. would have a first set of a harmonized framework for a whole group of countries and that can, of course, over time also become a good example for other regions. I would mainly think of Africa, but also in Asia, South America. So if it works well in Europe over time, over longer periods, it might be a starting point for this new development. SDG, of course, we see in national space laws, we see a focus on space safety beyond the international obligations of authorization, supervision, liability, registration. This is the core to ensure that also non-governmental activities are safe and over the years, and all of you know it, the international developments of guidelines and technical standards on space debris, mitigation, et cetera, et cetera, but also other methods, they flow also into national space law and become then also binding through the law or through licensing conditions. However, let’s say SDG, so more what’s happening on Earth, typically is not an aspect which is treated under national space laws.

Alexandre Vallet: Thank you very much, Ingo. So as you have noted, the first speakers, the first two speakers, addressed the frameworks necessary to set up a flourishing space ecosystem. I will now turn to a more operational side and introduce you with two examples of innovative actors of this ecosystem. So I will start with Kineis. Bruno, could you… briefly introduce your company, but also the service you are offering and explain how can this service be used to assist in achieving some of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Bruno Bechard: Thank you. Yes, of course, and with pleasure. Thank you, Alexandre, for this invitation. Good morning to everyone. Just to a short presentation of Kinesio, as you told, it’s a nanosat constellation based on 25 nanosatellites flying at 650 kilometers with 20 ground stations around the globe. Kinesio is proposing services, as you said, also IoT services, Internet of Things services based on low power consumption for the devices. Also some localization services and also AIS, Automatic Identification System, for maritime traffic management. So Kinesio has launched its satellites between mid-2024 and March 2025, and right now we are operating services since June. What is interesting also to say is that Kinesio is the heiress of the Argo system that was built 40 years ago and operating, and that is well known for environmental and localization services. So Kinesio constellation upgraded Argo system by a factor of 100. We can allow a factor of 100 more devices on the network. So the services are open, and just to give you some good assets of those. what’s going on right now you know 85% of the earth is not covered but by terrestrial network and the way that we are providing you know services is through this space iot and for the sdg for example we are partnering also with uh with some companies to offer uh i would highlight some some some use cases but for example right now we are with our partner and shareholder cls we are providing some wildlife tracking and also some maritime or fishing monitoring to have a sustainable resources management and also for wildlife to what is interesting it’s not only wildlife tracking and protecting wildlife but it’s also being able to monitor uh some oceanographics parameters or meteorological parameters because you know they are when they are on the on the turtle for example you can monitor many things um all the partnership or other use cases that we are providing are related for example for uh while um for fires and uh fire alerting so we are developing use cases with uh and of course we alert and then protect the forest and uh and by a third uh use case is what we are doing with uh our partners also carling and europort we are following wagons for example and with that innovating for supply chains for optimizing optimization and uh and uh and also the the order the the monitoring that can be done and reducing the costs through this supply chain management. So we are delivering all kinds of service on monitoring, alerting, and tracking on different domains, environmental domains, agriculture, energy, transport, or infrastructure. And we can provide many, many use cases around this. You can imagine water quality or whatever. So this is really interesting. And of course, I think it helps all the SDGs. And it can help all the SDGs in that respect.

Alexandre Vallet: Thanks a lot, Bruno. And thanks, indeed, for giving us some concrete example of services that, indeed, are directly related to some of the SDGs, and for which your services can, indeed, increase or improve, I would say, the quality of monitoring of data collection. Thank you very much. I will now introduce another type of innovative space actor, not providing communications, but making sure that many different missions can go to space. So Chloe, could you introduce Ridespace? And what kind of service do you offer? What types of customers are your main target? And could you explain, in particular, why your offer is different from traditional launch offerings?

Chloe Saboye Pasquier: Yes, thank you very much for having me today. And good morning, everyone. So RIDE is a launch solution broker, which means that we put in relation towards the satellite operator, manufacturer, with the launch provider, and allow them to find the best solution to reach their orbits, depending on the mission constraints. So we are definitely born from the democratization of space. With more launch vehicle solution, it’s, again, a little bit difficult. for some of our customers to find the remaining capacity on the launch vehicle to also find what are the best solution maybe to launch a constellation because we could align to different launch solutions in different countries. The other aspect is that we also support our customer to be able to comply with all the regulation of each launch vehicle, but also each national regulation based on where the launch vehicle take off and also based on where our satellite operator is. So we are doing the link between those two words with different launch vehicle from the USA, Europe, India, but also China, and with a various range of customer. So we have a satellite CubeSat for one kilo and big companies with more than 250 kilogram satellites. So we also see the full range of applications which fall under a different regulation each time. So if we have to differentiate our customer, I would say we can separate them in three different type. We can separate them in newcomers in country having space loads or having regulations. So that would mean startup, that would mean maybe university centers as well or research centers that just want to launch a satellite, but they may not be completely familiar with ecosystems in their own countries and internationally. We also have the second type of customer which are the multi launches constellation planning. So basically those are usually companies with more advance and are looking for solutions to be able to launch multiple satellites on the very specific set of time with specific orbits. So we try to find the best solution combining different launch vehicles. also OCD, or space tax, and everything that is possible in terms of innovations. This can be used, for example, for all the new PNT constellations that are currently in development. And the final one would be to support projects from countries not having any space program. This one is actually a little bit tricky because we may, in some cases, even have to develop with the company or even with the country, some set of regulations, some constraints to be able to comply with international regulation, or at least with the launch vehicle we will launch with. So we are sure that the satellite will respect all the regulations. So this one is mostly the case for countries such as Nepal or Mexico, for example, that we are currently working on. So in this aspect, we have been able to manage the first completely private launch mission between China and foreign countries. So basically exporting a satellite from Europe to China. So also with the importation and all the regulation, the radio frequency that is going on with the specific regulation in China, and be able to comply with all the foreign and international aspects. So in this case, it’s a little bit similar to what Dr. Bowen was saying. We also have a very set part of our activity, which is based in knowledge sharing, being able to advise our clients to what is possible and what is not possible for the mission, not only in terms of technical aspects, because it’s actually quite easy to say that a launch vehicle will be able to launch a very heavy satellite. It’s easy. We just have a look at what are the capabilities. But when we have to look at all the aspects about transportation, export control. radio frequency registrations, and all that is feasible around the mission, this is where we can actually support our clients and coordinate the mission so they are able to successfully launch the satellite on time with all the licenses and certificates that are required for the missions.

Alexandre Vallet: Thank you very much and thank you for offering to us these insights into indeed the new ways of procuring launches. So this first round of questions, as you may have noted, allowed us to better understand the current set of play. So I would like now to pivot to the future and discuss what is currently missing for really leveraging a true space ecosystem and how we could fix what is missing or we could complete that. I will choose a different order of speakers for the first questions and I will start the second one with Bruno. For your company, what are the main obstacles to the pervasive use of your technology all over the world and how do you think these obstacles could be overcome in the next years?

Bruno Bechard: Thank you, Alexandre. I would say that a lot of work has been done on the broadband, as you mentioned at the beginning for your introduction. So a legal framework are there, but for narrowband, like we do for IoT, for example, where we are exchanging very small messages on a few kilohertz, I would say we would need some appropriate regulation and a legal framework and also appropriate license conditions. We’ve got, for example, 20 ground stations, but we cannot multiply them in each country, for example, and definitely our system. is not based for this. So this could be harder. Same for the regulation fees. We can have some issues if we are compared to the broadband service providers because our business case is definitely not the same and we cannot afford some huge regulation fees. So I would say that yes, we need such legal framework to unlock access to the markets. And yes, this could be a good tool. Also, especially for Kinase, but I think for other new space suppliers, we need some information, trainings and also help in terms of building programs because we need to build some ecosystems. And for our example, if our technologies, if we can have some trainings on our technologies, of course, it would unlock the ecosystem so that for a university or whatever would be able to develop upon all our new space technologies. So yes, being more known and so that partners can also recruit and develop on these domains. And of course, as I said, also building programs, because as we say, we can build some use case, we can replicate them. And definitely, for example, if we are developing a solution for flood detection, we can duplicate it in many countries later on. So I would say that could be. this kind of ideas to unlock the access. Thank you.

Alexandre Vallet: Thank you very much. Quite clear. Let me move to Chloé. As you explained, right space is seeing a lot of market potential in new commerce, new companies in, I would say, space-faring nations. But also, new countries that want to enter the space race. And for that, what, in your view, are the main barriers that prevented your services to be accessible by these customers? And how have you managed to overcome this barrier? And what, in your view, are the most pressing challenges for the next years in order to, I would say, improve access to space?

Chloe Saboye Pasquier: Yes. So effectively, we have had some issue, not really for the access of our services, as we are actually a broker. So we put in relation the two words. But we have seen some of our clients not be able actually to launch or to just do their mission as they want it, or at least in the timeline due to all the external factors. So it’s actually today quite easy, if I may say, of course, to buy a satellite platform for a small satellite. We have the possibility of buying a lot of components that are already being used and provided in space. So the actual manufacturing, proper manufacturing, has been defined, a lot of hand works, and can be followed by our clients, which is actually not the most complicated aspect of the launch mission. What we can see is all the overall associated services. to be able to test, to be able to transport, to be able to register the radio frequencies. All of those are actually some of the issue and barrier that our client can face, because either they don’t have the knowledge, the how to know how to do it, or they are blocked in their own country. So this is what we mostly face for the radio frequency registrations for satellite, especially when we are in country without a space agency, because the entity responsible for the communication, for the registration, they sometimes are not trained to register satellites. So the delay for the management of the license can vary from country to country, but sometimes we can just get to four or six months just to get the APAA, for example, which in terms of space or small mission is quite a huge timeline. So this is definitely something that we need to take care of first thing when we have a client coming from a country without space agency. And the second one that we may fear, not today, but maybe tomorrow, is actually the democratization and also the increase in space regulation, which is of course very good. But what we need to be careful is that all of them can comply and recognize each other, because if we have different satellites, we have to imagine the worst case scenario for us would be to have a satellite for one country launching on a launch vehicle for another country, but actually this launch vehicle use a launch site from a third country. So basically we would be under three different national registration in addition to all the international or regional. les institutions. So we have to be very careful that all of them can recognize or compliant with each other in these regulations. So this has been the case for some specific examples. So in France, the French law is actually recognized by New Zealand or by China, which is actually very helpful for us. And this is something we will need in the future so that our mission can be done easier for all the different newcomers and also the country already having a set of regulations. And finally, if I go a little bit in the radio frequency, because this is also the panel of today, for this specific aspect, we have different topics. We have for the newcomers or for people wanting to do some research or just demonstration in orbit. So they only need to use a radio frequency band for a few months or a year. Sometimes it’s very difficult for them to get the allocation for the specific frequency bands, or it would seem to us actually easier to rent, if possible, an available radio frequency band, because we know that some people register them in advance, they don’t use them, so why not share them? But the issue is that we don’t know, we don’t have a database to find the people who would actually accept to rent or to share the frequency band for the clients. So that’s one of the points. And the second that we can foresee in the future, actually very new, is a D-to-D, direct-to-device services. So basically the satellite not needing any ground station, but using the other constellation, because today we have those constellations. that are growing, that are developing, and that actually can provide the services of getting the data back to Earth. So our satellite would only need to communicate with this constellation without the need for registration, sorry, with a ground station. This has been done for re-entry capsule, but it’s not done yet for satellite in orbit. And that could actually be a good solution first to be able to access multiple ground station, but also to help our small newcomers that don’t need a lot of ground station, don’t need a lot of data, to be able just to get back for a few months the data for their research.

Alexandre Vallet: Thank you very much. This is a very rich set of issues that in fact should be addressable in the coming years. So this is very interesting, particularly I like your point on the need for consistency across national law and also between national law and international law. This kind of consistency generally easier to obtain the consistency across international law is something that is indeed challenging and that probably should be the focus on further efforts in the years to come. Ingo, since we are discussing about these issues of consistencies between national laws and the also consistency with international law, in view, in your view as a practitioner in space law, what topics or issues are currently missing in, well, that are currently missing in space laws should be the lawmakers’ and regulators’ priority for the next years?

Ingo Baumann: Alexander, that’s of course is a great question. I think it’s not only one and many things are already ongoing. We heard from Al Mudena, of course, the whole issue of space security. We mentioned space safety and here, of course, we all know more and more objects, more and more collision risks, more and more space debris, but all this is already ongoing. I wouldn’t choose any one of these to be the top priority. They are all priorities. Of course, then this comes together under the overarching term of space traffic management, where also we just had new developments in Corpus. There’s also lots of talks ongoing in diverse bodies and fora, but it’s, of course, extremely difficult. What Chloe very nicely said, the disparity of frameworks, also, let’s say the lack of effective communication channels and contacts between national regulators is certainly an issue. Let’s say the need for mutual recognition in one way or the other, more formal or less formal is certainly also an issue. When I was a bit younger, my PhD topic 25 years ago was on the privatization of the then intergovernmental satellite organizations. What I often reflect is, let’s say, is that really so outdated? Of course, it’s outdated for SATCOM because the international organizations at the time, over three decades, four decades, they allowed, let’s say development of the technology, development of public investment and so on up to a point where privatization, commercialization was feasible. But we have other areas of space technologies and space applications which today are in the starting point where SATCOM was in the late 60s when InterSat was founded or in the early 70s when we saw Inmarsat and UterSat and so on. So of course it’s very difficult to establish an international organization or to come to an international agreement as we also saw it for the ISS. But if I see certain challenges in the broad range of the SDG, climate, fire, disasters and so on and so on, I think we should not totally ignore this old model and sometimes and we also said yes democratization, commercialization, the progress of technology that makes many things easier but we also have counter effects. It means that we have a lot of let’s say systems but somehow let’s say well own national or own commercial initiatives and then for commercial initiatives with all the problems of getting the right investment, making the progress, launching the system etc. etc. If we would bring maybe a bit more of international collaboration and mechanisms to that sometimes we may be faster to really find stable solutions for the problems we are looking to.

Alexandre Vallet: Thank you very much and this is quite interesting to see your reference to this model of international organization because at least in ITU we see some countries in for example, in Africa, thinking about this model also to start their activities in space by joining together and pooling resources in order to be able to have a real first concrete step in space, which probably individually they could not. As you said, this is very, there is a very good parallel with what happened in the 80s and the 70s and 80s on that aspect. That’s so we should not forget this. Finally, back to the opening speaker and the opening topic, Almudena, in your view, what are the most urgent challenges in terms of space security that have now to be addressed? So not necessarily, I don’t ask for a ranking, but maybe the main topics that is now that needs to be addressed in the coming years.

Almudena Azcarate Ortega: Thank you, thank you very much, Alessandro. I think, you know, we could be here all day talking about this is such a complex question, but for the sake of time, I will resist the urge to go on and on about the challenges that exist. I think, first of all, it really depends on who you ask, because obviously states have different priorities, different interests and different objectives when it comes to space operations. So that also contributes to determining what they consider the main challenges or the most urgent challenges. But what we hear about the most in multilateral discussions, and I think some of the things have been mentioned just now by Inga, for example, the whole space debris issue. We hear a lot about the dangers that the development, the testing and the use of counter space capabilities pose. and cancer-based capabilities come in many shapes and forms. They can be kinetic, they can be non-kinetic, like for example, high-powered microwaves, electromagnetic pulses, they can be electronic, and this is particularly important for telecommunications. So they can be jammers or spoofers that affect communications, that cause harmful interference, which is something that’s mentioned explicitly in the Outer Space Treaty, not prohibited in the Outer Space Treaty, although it is prohibited by the ITU rules, but it is mentioned there as something that’s undesirable in the Outer Space Treaty. And then also cyber cancer-based capabilities, which have gained a lot of importance in recent years, particularly due to their use in currently ongoing armed conflict on Earth. And all of these cancer-based capabilities can target any of the segments of a space system, so the ground segment, the space segment, or the data links in between. So there is a lot of conversation going on about them, not just due to the danger that they pose to the space environment itself, but also to the danger that they pose to Earth. So the disabling, the destruction of these space technologies even the temporary interference with the services that these space systems provide can be devastating for Earth, and states and stakeholders in general are becoming increasingly aware of this. So cancer-based capabilities is something that’s definitely a big concern. Then we talked a little bit, Chloe was the one that mentioned it, how do we understand laws? international, national, regional. And I think this goes into another concern that’s very important for security, which is the lack of common understanding that exists, not just necessarily limited to legal interpretation of principles or regulation, but also at the most basic level, the interpretation of terminology. So we often use the same terms when it comes to space security discussions, but states will often mean different things. And these different interpretations, they can be due to many reasons. They can be due to cultural backgrounds, to legal backgrounds. So whether a country has a civil law or a common law background can affect how they interpret different concepts. It can be due to political interests, of course, but the end of the matter is that we use the same terms, but sometimes we mean very different things. So that means that the result of this means that when we sit down to negotiate potential mechanisms to address space security concerns, it’s very difficult to reach consensus because we have different understanding of what these terms actually mean. And space security itself is a good example of this, especially if you consider that at the multilateral level, we speak multiple languages. And there are certain languages where the difference between space security and space safety that I was talking at the beginning actually doesn’t exist. So in Spanish, for example, the same word is used for both security and safety. And so that multilingual aspect of multilateral discussions adds another layer of complexity. But then when it comes to the lack of common understanding related to that is the lack of transparency that we sometimes see when it comes to activities in space or when it comes to the disclosure of space policy doctrines or strategies. I think there’s. improving, I think states are increasingly disclosing their space security strategies, which is seen as a good transparency and confidence building measure. But the other side of that coin is that sometimes it can, so when a state releases their space security strategy, another state, for example, an adversary of that state that has released their space security strategy might perceive that strategy as some form of thing that they have to be concerned about as a threat, especially depending on how the language is used there, the choice of words that is used in that strategy. And so the use of language, again, is something that has to be considered really carefully in these multilateral discussions. Ultimately, to wrap things up, I would say that space security is influenced by the geopolitical climate that we have on Earth. So a lot of the challenges that we see in space security are not isolated, something that’s very far away, you know, beyond the atmosphere, that don’t really concern what’s happening on Earth. That’s definitely not the case. The more tense that relations are on Earth, the more tense, or the more lack of trust that we will see when it comes to space activities. And so working towards achieving greater transparency, communication, all of those things that other panelists talked about, not just in the context of space, but also in the context of earthly relations, can actually really help mitigate potential threats and challenges that are perceived in space as well. So I will leave it at that. I don’t know if we have time for questions, but if we do, I would be very happy to to answer any. Yeah, thank you very much.

Alexandre Vallet: And thank you for highlighting this point about terminology, which is indeed an essential issue. especially in multilateral discussions. Maybe if you could just, I know that UNIDIR has produced a lexicon, a glossary of terms to try to start to address this issue. So maybe if you can, in one minute, mention and explain what it is and where you can, our audience can find it if they are interested.

Almudena Azcarate Ortega: Absolutely. And thank you so much for mentioning that. We are very proud of this lexicon. This lexicon came about precisely because we’ve realized this issue of different stakeholders using the same terms, but oftentimes meaning different things. So the space security lexicon has its own website now, which we recently launched this year. And so it can be found at spacesecuritylexicon.org. And it is essentially a compilation of commonly used terms in space security discourse. Some of them, there is more clarity or more common understanding around their meaning. So it’s just essentially brief definitions of what those same terms are. But there are, again, other times where there is different interpretations. And so we don’t seek to provide what the definition for these terms should be, but rather we seek to highlight these interpretive differences that can come out of the use of these terms. So that when states and other stakeholders sit down to talk about space security issues, they have a resource that they can go to and understand a little bit more what those different interpretations can be. This tool is available in all six official languages. So it’s not translations of each other, but rather different versions, because we do look at the different issues that come up in different languages. So for example, when it comes to the term space security, that I mentioned, and how certain languages don’t have different. different terms for space security and space safety, such as is the case with Spanish. We maybe talk a little bit more in depth about this issue in the Spanish version of the lexicon than we do in the English version. And in French, for example, we have this issue where space security is translated by surte spatial instead of securite spatial. So we talk a little bit about why that is and how different French speaking countries talk about space security. And yeah, we hope that this tool can contribute to creating a little bit more of common understanding. And in that sense, it’s a little bit of a transparency and confidence building measure that can help move space security discussions forward. Over back to you.

Alexandre Vallet: Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much. I see now that time is running up. So we don’t really have time for questions, sorry. So I hope that the audience has learned a good deal about the future of space systems and technologies that in our view, at least will play a role to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal in the next years, hopefully to meet some of the Sustainable Goals by 2030. This is, as you know, we are late in meeting the goals, but probably 2030 should not be seen as the end, but should be also seen as a milestone that could allow us to move forward. At the time of closing, I would like to thank our four panelists for their insights on the topic. Thank you very much. This meeting has been recorded. It will be put also online on the YCIS website. Thank you all for having attended the session and have a good rest of the day. And for those… are going back to their countries after this day of crisis, have a safe trip back. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Agreement points

Need for appropriate regulatory frameworks tailored to different space services

Speakers

– Bruno Bechard
– Chloe Saboye Pasquier
– Ingo Baumann

Arguments

Narrowband IoT services need appropriate regulatory frameworks and licensing conditions different from broadband services, with affordable fees for smaller business cases

Radio frequency registration delays of 4-6 months in countries without space agencies create significant barriers for small satellite missions

National space laws have evolved through three phases: international law implementation, university/startup support, and national competitiveness enhancement

Summary

All three speakers agree that current regulatory frameworks are inadequate for the diverse needs of modern space services, with Bruno highlighting the need for IoT-specific regulations, Chloe pointing to registration delays, and Ingo describing the evolution toward more tailored national frameworks

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Infrastructure

Importance of international consistency and coordination in space governance

Speakers

– Chloe Saboye Pasquier
– Ingo Baumann
– Almudena Azcarate Ortega

Arguments

Need for consistency and mutual recognition between different national space regulations to enable multi-jurisdictional missions

The proposed EU Space Act represents the first supranational space law framework that could serve as a model for other regions

Lack of common understanding of terminology across different languages and legal systems creates barriers in multilateral space security negotiations

Summary

All speakers recognize the critical need for harmonized international approaches, whether through mutual recognition of national laws, supranational frameworks, or common terminology in multilateral discussions

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development

Space technologies enable comprehensive solutions for sustainable development beyond traditional connectivity

Speakers

– Alexandre Vallet
– Bruno Bechard

Arguments

Growing space ecosystems require comprehensive frameworks addressing both technical capabilities and sustainable development applications

Space IoT services enable monitoring and tracking across 85% of Earth not covered by terrestrial networks, supporting wildlife protection, fire detection, and supply chain optimization

Summary

Both speakers emphasize that modern space technologies offer much broader applications for sustainable development than just connectivity, requiring comprehensive approaches to harness their full potential

Topics

Development | Sustainable development | Infrastructure

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers emphasize the need for knowledge sharing and ecosystem building to support newcomers and smaller players in the space industry, whether through training programs or regulatory guidance services

Speakers

– Bruno Bechard
– Chloe Saboye Pasquier

Arguments

Building ecosystems requires training programs and information sharing to help universities and partners develop applications using new space technologies

Launch brokerage services address the complexity of multi-national regulations when satellites, launch vehicles, and launch sites involve different countries

Topics

Development | Sociocultural | Legal and regulatory

Both speakers advocate for enhanced international cooperation and coordination, with Ingo suggesting historical models and Almudena emphasizing the need for transparency and communication to address security challenges

Speakers

– Ingo Baumann
– Almudena Azcarate Ortega

Arguments

International collaboration models from satellite organizations of the 1970s-80s could be relevant for addressing current global challenges like climate and disasters

Space security challenges are directly influenced by geopolitical tensions on Earth, requiring coordinated transparency and communication efforts

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development | Cybersecurity

Unexpected consensus

Value of historical international space organization models for current challenges

Speakers

– Ingo Baumann
– Alexandre Vallet

Arguments

International collaboration models from satellite organizations of the 1970s-80s could be relevant for addressing current global challenges like climate and disasters

Growing space ecosystems require comprehensive frameworks addressing both technical capabilities and sustainable development applications

Explanation

It’s unexpected that both speakers would reference and validate older international cooperation models (like Intelsat, Inmarsat) as potentially relevant solutions for current space challenges, given the strong trend toward commercialization and privatization in the space sector

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development

Terminology and language barriers as fundamental obstacles to space governance

Speakers

– Almudena Azcarate Ortega
– Alexandre Vallet

Arguments

Lack of common understanding of terminology across different languages and legal systems creates barriers in multilateral space security negotiations

Growing space ecosystems require comprehensive frameworks addressing both technical capabilities and sustainable development applications

Explanation

The consensus on terminology being a fundamental barrier is unexpected because it highlights that even basic communication challenges remain unresolved in space governance, despite decades of international space cooperation

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Sociocultural

Overall assessment

Summary

The speakers demonstrate strong consensus on the need for more sophisticated, tailored regulatory frameworks that can accommodate the diversity of modern space services while ensuring international coordination and consistency. There is also agreement on the broader potential of space technologies for sustainable development beyond traditional connectivity applications.

Consensus level

High level of consensus with significant implications for space governance – all speakers recognize that current frameworks are inadequate for the rapidly evolving space ecosystem and that solutions require both technical innovation and comprehensive international cooperation. The consensus suggests a clear path forward involving regulatory modernization, international harmonization, and ecosystem building to fully leverage space technologies for global challenges.

Different viewpoints

Approach to regulatory framework development – international cooperation vs. national competitiveness

Speakers

– Ingo Baumann
– Bruno Bechard
– Chloe Saboye Pasquier

Arguments

International collaboration models from satellite organizations of the 1970s-80s could be relevant for addressing current global challenges like climate and disasters

Narrowband IoT services need appropriate regulatory frameworks and licensing conditions different from broadband services, with affordable fees for smaller business cases

Need for consistency and mutual recognition between different national space regulations to enable multi-jurisdictional missions

Summary

Ingo advocates for reviving international organizational models for global challenges, while Bruno focuses on adapting existing frameworks for specific service types, and Chloe emphasizes the need for regulatory harmonization across jurisdictions. They represent different philosophical approaches to regulatory development.

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development

Unexpected differences

Role of frequency spectrum sharing and allocation efficiency

Speakers

– Bruno Bechard
– Chloe Saboye Pasquier

Arguments

Narrowband IoT services need appropriate regulatory frameworks and licensing conditions different from broadband services, with affordable fees for smaller business cases

Lack of database for sharing unused radio frequency allocations prevents efficient spectrum utilization for short-term research and demonstration missions

Explanation

While both speakers address frequency allocation challenges, they focus on completely different aspects. Bruno emphasizes the need for different regulatory treatment based on service type, while Chloe identifies the inefficiency of unused spectrum not being available for sharing. This represents an unexpected divergence in how they view spectrum management solutions.

Topics

Infrastructure | Legal and regulatory

Overall assessment

Summary

The speakers show remarkable consensus on identifying problems but differ significantly in their proposed solutions. Main disagreements center on regulatory approaches (international cooperation vs. national adaptation vs. harmonization) and spectrum management strategies.

Disagreement level

Low to moderate disagreement level. The speakers are largely complementary rather than contradictory, representing different perspectives within the same ecosystem. Their disagreements reflect different professional backgrounds and operational focuses rather than fundamental conflicts. This suggests a healthy diversity of approaches that could be integrated rather than competing solutions that must be chosen between.

Partial agreements

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers emphasize the need for knowledge sharing and ecosystem building to support newcomers and smaller players in the space industry, whether through training programs or regulatory guidance services

Speakers

– Bruno Bechard
– Chloe Saboye Pasquier

Arguments

Building ecosystems requires training programs and information sharing to help universities and partners develop applications using new space technologies

Launch brokerage services address the complexity of multi-national regulations when satellites, launch vehicles, and launch sites involve different countries

Topics

Development | Sociocultural | Legal and regulatory

Both speakers advocate for enhanced international cooperation and coordination, with Ingo suggesting historical models and Almudena emphasizing the need for transparency and communication to address security challenges

Speakers

– Ingo Baumann
– Almudena Azcarate Ortega

Arguments

International collaboration models from satellite organizations of the 1970s-80s could be relevant for addressing current global challenges like climate and disasters

Space security challenges are directly influenced by geopolitical tensions on Earth, requiring coordinated transparency and communication efforts

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development | Cybersecurity

Key takeaways

Space security and space safety are distinct concepts – security addresses intentional threats while safety handles unintentional hazards to space systems

Current space governance relies on Outer Space Treaty principles and non-binding mechanisms, but lacks specific comprehensive space security treaties

National space laws have evolved through three phases: international law implementation, startup support, and national competitiveness enhancement

The proposed EU Space Act represents the first supranational space law framework that could serve as a model for other regions

Space IoT services can cover 85% of Earth not served by terrestrial networks, enabling applications for wildlife tracking, fire detection, and supply chain optimization

Launch brokerage services are emerging to help navigate complex multi-jurisdictional regulatory requirements for satellite missions

Terminology differences across languages and legal systems create significant barriers in multilateral space security negotiations

Space security challenges are directly influenced by geopolitical tensions on Earth, requiring coordinated transparency and communication efforts

Growing space ecosystems require comprehensive frameworks that address both technical capabilities and sustainable development applications

Resolutions and action items

UNIDIR has developed a space security lexicon available at spacesecuritylexicon.org in six official languages to address terminology confusion

The session recording will be made available online on the YCIS website for broader access

Continued multilateral discussions through UN bodies on space security frameworks and mechanisms

Unresolved issues

Lack of appropriate regulatory frameworks and licensing conditions for narrowband IoT services compared to broadband

Radio frequency registration delays of 4-6 months in countries without space agencies creating mission barriers

Absence of database for sharing unused radio frequency allocations for short-term research missions

Need for consistency and mutual recognition between different national space regulations

Challenges in developing direct-to-device satellite services using constellation-to-constellation communication

Space traffic management and debris mitigation requiring coordinated international action

Counter-space capabilities threats including kinetic, non-kinetic, electronic, and cyber attacks on space systems

Lack of common understanding of space security terminology across different stakeholders and languages

Suggested compromises

International collaboration models from 1970s-80s satellite organizations could be adapted for current global challenges like climate and disasters

Building ecosystems through training programs and information sharing to help universities and partners develop new space technology applications

Developing rental or sharing mechanisms for radio frequency bands to help newcomers access spectrum for short-term missions

Creating more formal or informal mutual recognition frameworks between national space regulators

Establishing better communication channels and contacts between national regulators to address regulatory disparities

Space security deals more with those intentional threats or intentional harms, and then space safety deals with unintentional harms… Space security doesn’t actually exist in a legal vacuum. The Outer Space Treaty does provide a robust legal framework of principles that are relevant to space security concerns.

Speaker

Almudena Azcarate Ortega

Reason

This comment was insightful because it provided crucial conceptual clarity by distinguishing between space security (intentional threats) and space safety (unintentional hazards), while also establishing that existing legal frameworks do provide some foundation for space security governance. This distinction is fundamental to understanding the regulatory landscape.

Impact

This comment established the foundational framework for the entire discussion, providing the conceptual vocabulary that other panelists could build upon. It shifted the conversation from abstract concerns about space governance to concrete categories of threats and existing legal mechanisms.

The perspective on national space law has changed quite a lot… The first phase of national space laws was really purely looking to the international law… Then we had a whole wave of national space laws surrounding university projects… Then the third and still ongoing phase is now really looking into national competitiveness.

Speaker

Ingo Baumann

Reason

This evolutionary framework for understanding national space law development was particularly insightful because it revealed how space governance has matured from compliance-focused to innovation and competitiveness-focused, showing the dynamic nature of space law adaptation.

Impact

This comment introduced a historical perspective that contextualized current challenges and suggested future directions. It helped frame the discussion around the evolution of space governance rather than just current static challenges.

We have different satellites, we have to imagine the worst case scenario for us would be to have a satellite for one country launching on a launch vehicle for another country, but actually this launch vehicle use a launch site from a third country. So basically we would be under three different national registration in addition to all the international or regional institutions.

Speaker

Chloe Saboye Pasquier

Reason

This comment was thought-provoking because it illustrated the practical complexity of multi-jurisdictional space operations with a concrete scenario that highlighted how the democratization of space access creates unprecedented regulatory challenges.

Impact

This comment shifted the discussion from theoretical legal frameworks to practical operational challenges, demonstrating how the new space economy creates regulatory complexity that existing frameworks weren’t designed to handle. It prompted discussion about the need for regulatory harmonization.

Space security is influenced by the geopolitical climate that we have on Earth… The more tense that relations are on Earth, the more tense, or the more lack of trust that we will see when it comes to space activities.

Speaker

Almudena Azcarate Ortega

Reason

This observation was particularly insightful because it connected terrestrial geopolitics to space security, challenging any notion that space can be treated as a separate domain from earthly conflicts and tensions.

Impact

This comment broadened the scope of the discussion beyond technical and legal solutions to include geopolitical considerations, suggesting that space security cannot be solved in isolation from broader international relations.

If we would bring maybe a bit more of international collaboration and mechanisms to that sometimes we may be faster to really find stable solutions for the problems we are looking to… we should not totally ignore this old model [of international organizations]

Speaker

Ingo Baumann

Reason

This comment was thought-provoking because it challenged the prevailing narrative of space commercialization and democratization by suggesting that older models of international cooperation might still be relevant for addressing current challenges.

Impact

This comment introduced a counter-narrative to the dominant theme of privatization and national competition, suggesting that some challenges might require collective international approaches rather than purely market-driven solutions.

We often use the same terms when it comes to space security discussions, but states will often mean different things… in Spanish, for example, the same word is used for both security and safety.

Speaker

Almudena Azcarate Ortega

Reason

This insight about linguistic and conceptual barriers in multilateral discussions was particularly valuable because it identified a fundamental communication challenge that underlies many policy disagreements and negotiation difficulties.

Impact

This comment highlighted a meta-level challenge affecting all space governance discussions – the need for common terminology and understanding before substantive progress can be made on policy issues.

Overall assessment

These key comments collectively shaped the discussion by establishing a multi-layered understanding of space governance challenges. The conversation evolved from basic definitional clarity (security vs. safety) to historical context (evolution of space law), practical operational challenges (multi-jurisdictional complexity), geopolitical realities (Earth-space connection), alternative governance models (international cooperation), and fundamental communication barriers (terminology issues). The comments created a comprehensive framework that moved beyond technical solutions to encompass legal, political, linguistic, and historical dimensions of space governance. This progression demonstrated that achieving sustainable space development requires addressing not just technological and regulatory challenges, but also fundamental issues of international cooperation, communication, and governance philosophy.

How can legal frameworks be better adapted for narrowband IoT services compared to broadband services, particularly regarding licensing conditions and regulation fees?

Speaker

Bruno Bechard

Explanation

Bruno highlighted that while broadband services have established legal frameworks, narrowband IoT services face challenges with inappropriate regulation and licensing conditions that don’t match their business model, creating barriers to market access.

How can consistency be achieved across different national space laws and between national and international space law?

Speaker

Chloe Saboye Pasquier and Alexandre Vallet

Explanation

Chloe raised concerns about satellites operating under multiple national jurisdictions, and Alexandre emphasized this as a challenging issue that should be the focus of further efforts in coming years.

How can a database or system be created to facilitate sharing or renting of unused radio frequency allocations for short-term research and demonstration missions?

Speaker

Chloe Saboye Pasquier

Explanation

Chloe identified that newcomers often need frequency bands for only a few months but face difficulties accessing them, while some registered frequencies remain unused, suggesting a need for a sharing mechanism.

What regulatory framework is needed for direct-to-device satellite services that communicate through other constellations without ground stations?

Speaker

Chloe Saboye Pasquier

Explanation

This represents an emerging technology area where satellites would communicate with existing constellations rather than ground stations, requiring new regulatory approaches.

Should the international organization model from the 1970s-80s be reconsidered for certain space applications, particularly for addressing SDG-related challenges?

Speaker

Ingo Baumann

Explanation

Ingo suggested that while this model is outdated for SATCOM, it might be relevant for newer space technologies that are at early development stages, potentially enabling faster solutions through international collaboration.

How can common understanding of space security terminology be improved across different languages and legal systems in multilateral discussions?

Speaker

Almudena Azcarate Ortega

Explanation

Almudena identified that the same terms often mean different things to different stakeholders due to cultural, legal, and linguistic differences, creating barriers to effective negotiation and consensus-building.

How can transparency in space activities and policy disclosure be balanced with security concerns to build confidence without creating new threats?

Speaker

Almudena Azcarate Ortega

Explanation

Almudena noted that while transparency is improving, disclosed space security strategies can sometimes be perceived as threats by other states, requiring careful consideration of language and approach.

What training and capacity building programs are needed to develop ecosystems around new space technologies?

Speaker

Bruno Bechard

Explanation

Bruno emphasized the need for information, training, and building programs to help universities and partners develop applications using new space technologies, which would unlock broader ecosystem development.