Book Title: Spaceports in Europe

Publisher: Springer

Abstract: TheEuropean economy is highly reliant on space. Access to space requires access to spaceports. Yet securing this access—that is, spaceport security—is both under-analyzed and under-formalized. In particular, the European Union’s critical infrastructure protection directives do not specifically address spaceports. Further, like many modern industries, the entire space sector is now wholly dependent on computer networks. These networks are vulnerable to cyber-attack. A successful attack on a spaceport during fueling, launch or range control operations could cause catastrophic damage to persons and property. Therefore, as spaceports proliferate across Europe, ensuring their physical and cybersecurity is a crucial challenge for the European Union. This chapter provides a legal perspective on this challenge and critiques two current proposals from the European Commission that aim to incorporate certain space infrastructures within existing frameworks.