Airbus, Leonardo and Thales Push Brussels to Approve Pan-European Space Company

EU-Startups framed the consolidation debate within a wider question of whether size alone delivers what it termed space sovereignty. As Low-Earth Orbit becomes more congested with commercial spacecraft, military assets and debris, the outlet noted, the capacity to detect, track and attribute activity in orbit is growing more important. It pointed to existing European efforts in this area, including the EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU SST) partnership and IRIS², the European Union's multi-orbit satellite constellation.

Two European spacecraft, ESA's photosynthesis mission FLEX and Copernicus satellite Sentinel-3C, are set to launch together as mission teams rehearse parallel operations.