Space Commercialization: Subject of New
European Community Study

How timely in light of the recent Columbia space shuttle disaster. European officials are about to launch a new study on the commercialization of space and the development of space infrastructure.

Broadly defined, "the space sector includes all public and private actors involved in the provision of space-enabled products and services. They are part of a long value-adding chain that starts upstream with the manufacturers of space hardware (e.g. launch vehicles, satellites, earth stations) and ranges downstream to the providers of space-enabled products (e.g. GPS-based car navigation systems) and services (e.g. satellite-based meteo services or direct to home video services) to final users."

The project's steering committee is scheduled to hold its first meeting in early April. In light of the space shuttle disaster, how will their agenda change? No doubt this same question in going through their minds as well. One possibility from my standpoint is that greater attention will be given to safety and security issues related to space commercialization. This is purely conjecture on my part.

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