The European Union's competitiveness council and the European Space Agency adopted the first European space policy at their fourth joint space council in Brussels last week.
The policy brings together all of ESA's programmes and the space-related activities of the EU through its research and development projects and collaborative work with ESA, such as the Galileo satellite navigation system and Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme.
Involvement in security and defence is new for ESA, while the EU has been developing its own policies and now has the European Defence Agency for military procurement and technology development.
The resolution does not preclude military use of Galileo, it only emphasises the navigation system's civilian ownership.
Source: Flight International