On October 22, 2024, the International Affairs Institute hosted astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti for a dialogue on space and to retrace the fundamental stages of her career.
The giant that united the world in space is about to retire: in service since 1998, and with a de-orbiting expected in 2030, too the International Space Station (ISS) he is nearing the end of his career. Symbol of cooperation, the station will replaced by new solutionsmarking the end of an era and the beginning of one new “post-ISS” phase in which international collaboration in orbit will give ground to competitive models and private structures.
China already operates its own space station, Tiangong, and India aims to develop its own by 2035; as the United States moves towards public-private partnerships that will see commercial space stations flourish. These actors have seen in the spatial structures a symbol of affirmation on the international levelincreasingly bringing out a competition that Europe cannot ignore. This scenario raises indeed important questions about Europe’s future role in spacethe positioning of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the risk of being left behind in the “new space race”. TheESA astronaut, Samantha Cristoforettihosted by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) on the occasion of an AstroTalk on the future of European space.
Samantha was on board the ISS twice, most recently in 2022 with the role of commander during the Minerva mission, scoring (yet another) career record as the first European woman to hold the position. With a passing of the baton which took place 400 kilometers from Earth by his Russian colleague Oleg Artemyev, the change took place at a very critical moment for cooperation between the USA and Europe with Russia, due to the war waged by Moscow against of Ukraine.
The urgency of greater European space autonomy
L’evolution of the ISS has demonstrated how mature the management of activities in low Earth orbit has become, thanks to over twenty-five years of continuous human presence in space. However, as underlined by Cristoforetti, in the Western world “there is no intention to replace the ISS with another public platform completely financed and managed by space agencies”. Looking at the United States, NASA already has “several active contracts with possible companies that could become provider of this type of platform” with the aim of selecting one or two by 2026, Cristoforetti said. Among the main private individuals looking to the “post-ISS”, the Texan stands out Axiomwhich has already obtained a contract to attach one’s own module to the ISS as a first step towards a future autonomous platformand the Californian Vast which aims to launch one quickly fully commercial space station. In Europe, however, there is no talk of a future European space stationbut there are companies very involved in the space industrial sector, such as Thales Alenia Space and Airbus, to name two. ESA, for its part, as explained by the astronaut, “has just started initial studies to try to understand what the interests of industries are and what projects our industry would be interested in investing in”.
During the AstroTalk, Cristoforetti presented a detailed overview of the future of European space, emphasizing the urgency of greater spatial autonomy. Speaking about the importance of the LEO Cargo Return Service – an ESA project he leads which is developing technologies that allow Europe to transport cargo into space and recover it on Earth – he underlined that being able bringing humans and materials back to land will represent a decisive step towards European technological sovereignty and that it is “a capacity that we do not have in Europe, and it is the first fixed point to keep in mind”. The main objective, in fact, will be reduce the historical dependence on third partiesin particular from the United States and Russia, an issue which according to Cristoforetti concerns not only strategic autonomy but also the economic and industrial future of our continent. Have such an ability in house would allow Europe to avoid relying on provider foreigners, gaining a more competitive position in both scientific and commercial missions.
Citing the approach step by step by Wernher von Braun and reflecting on how NASA maintained its independence with its own space transportation system, Cristoforetti recalled how Europe must focus on technological self-sufficiency so as not to be left behind in an era where space exploration turns into space exploitation. It is impossible not to think of the historic, yet current, independence from the United States in the capacity to transport humans and goods into space, citing NASA’s transition approach as an example. In particular, the astronaut noted that projects such as those of SpaceX and Blue Origin, supported by government investments and US regulation, have demonstrated that, with solid institutional support and long-term strategies, exceptional results can be achieved in the space sector. Europe should therefore take inspiration from this investment model to create a competitive ecosystemexploiting public-private alliances more effectively.
The ESA astronaut then discussed theimportance for Europe to maintain a central role within the Artemis programmeNASA’s ambitious initiative to return humans to the Moon and subsequently launch missions to Mars. Although Europe is involved in the programme, for example with the European Service Module (ESM) for the Orion capsule, it is the absence of direct European participation in the development of lander lunarcurrently being designed and built by US companies. If Europe does not invest directly in the development of lander autonomous or in forming partnerships with the commercial sector could be cut off from future exploration, having to depend on non-European partners to access the lunar surface.
A new strategic vision for Europe
In terms of space policies and strategies, Cristoforetti invited Europe to develop a long-term strategic vision, capable of ensure necessary and continuous funding for space projects. Space is an increasingly strategic domain that directly impacts the security and resilience of critical infrastructure and defense. For this reason, as Cristoforetti highlighted, “we must invest more and invest better, in a more strategic, less dispersive and together way”, to protect European infrastructures from threats coming from space.
In conclusion, to truly compete on a global scale, Europe will have to know how to be courageous and ambitiousovercoming the limits imposed by what Cristoforetti defined as the “narcissism of small differences”. The real challenge is in fact to join forces in Europe to strengthen existing realities and create new ones that can compete in the “series A” of this new space race, abandoning fragmented logics in favor of a European strategy that looks at the long term with foresight and considers the space sector as a resource economical. Space, capable of generating new opportunities for development and employment, as well as contributing to the ecological transition thanks to the possibility of monitoring climate change from space, can favor the creation of a more dynamic European ecosystem, ensuring the Old Continent a significant role in missions that await humanity towards the stars.
