Description
In the current geopolitical context of increasing instabilities, conflicts and intensification of hybrid threats, space has re-emerged, after the end of the Cold war, as a strategic domain and ultimate technology innovation frontier for several spacefaring countries. Space is today a contested and congested domain, which openly mirrors patterns of geostrategic rivalry amongst great powers in a multipolar global world order while having become at the same time a skyrocketing commercial economy populated by new actors. Today’s rise of hostile behaviors in the space domain, which detail offensive capabilities and risks for the security of space infrastructures and space-based services, challenge legal categories shaped under international space law during Cold War especially when it comes to attribution of these conducts. This requires further interpretative efforts under the lens of contemporary times as hybrid threats operations proliferate in and across “gray zones” where the dividing line between war and peace remains blurred and difficult to determine, with uncertainties concerning the applicability of legal regimes. At the same time there is a case to stress-test the emerging EU space governance against the risk of proliferation of hybrid threats activities in space, and to reflect on the significance and prospects of EU-UK cooperation in promoting effective resilience and deterrence capabilities for the space sector.
