6 July 2010. ESPI Report 23 entitled "Space Policies, Issues and Trends in 2009/2010” was released today. This is the fourth annual edition of a Report that provides an overview of key policy issues and developments in the broader field of space activities over the previous 12 months. This year’s Report gained additional recognition as it was included in the supporting documents of the ESA Council held in Paris on 16–17 June.

The ESPI “Space Policies, Issues and Trends” series is the Institute’s only annually recurring Report, published every June. Its objective is to provide a comprehensive overview and analysis of all developments in the field of space policy over the previous year. The aim of the Report is to be as exhaustive in its coverage and as coherent in its analysis as possible. For this purpose, it presents new trends in space activities, describes their underlying issues, analyses their effect on space policies worldwide and proposes policy options for Europe. The analytical approach taken by the Report is to present recent developments divided both by subject and country. It therefore covers all major space-faring nations (including emerging ones) as well as non-state stake holders such as the European Union or the European Space Agency. Their space activities and policies are presented in the most global and coherent possible way that encompasses not only civil and military government space programmes, but also commercial space and industrial developments. Finally, one of the Report’s key features is its extensive use of charts and diagrams that visualise the provided information and make it more easily accessible to the reader.

The information and analysis contained in the Report was exclusively compiled on the basis of publicly available sources, including research conducted in ESPI’s archives and library. The highlights of this year’s Report include analysis on the possible repercussions of the global financial crisis to the space sector, on the cancelation of the NASA Constellation human spaceflight programme, on recent policy and industrial developments surrounding the European Galileo and GMES programmes, on the development of new military space concepts, on the implementation progress of the new Japanese space policy etc. Furthermore, detailed facts and figures are given on the state of the global commercial space industry, with a particular focus on the performance of European companies.

The “Space Policies, Issues and Trends in 2009/2010” Report was led by ESPI Project Manager Spyros Pagkratis, with the significant support of ESPI Research Interns Andreas Baur and Marcus Hornung.


ESPI Project Manager Spyros Pagkratis and ESPI Research Intern Andreas Baur

ESPI Research Intern Marcus Hornung


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-ESPI Report 23: “Space Policies, Issues and Trends in 2009/2010”

photo credit: ESPI