Legal Perspectives for New Space Business Ventures in Europe

Space has long ceased to be the sole domain of governmental actors. New technologies and continuous advancements in space-based end-to-end services fuel the development of space applications, and new business opportunities are emerging in relation to space data exploitation. The commercialisation movement is already well established in the United States, and the markets in other spacefaring nations, including in Europe, are mirroring this evolution. Public actors have been gradually making room for commercial undertakings, which also opens up a variety of legal questions related to new collaboration models as the European space landscape is also becoming increasingly diversified, with numerous new services in development. With the prospect of increasing revenues from both commercial and institutional applications, numerous players, new market entrants and established actors alike are trying to position themselves on this new market.