INTERNATIONAL: French President, Emmanuel Macron says space has also become one of new areas of contemporary conflict. Without control of space, there cannot be complete power that is capable of both taking hold of one's destiny and conquering new frontiers. For all these reasons, space is a priority of the French presidency of the European Union, but also because France is a concurrent member of the European Space Agency council, along with Portugal.
Macron has also said on Wednesday that space-oriented development is one of the priorities of France during its presidency of the European Union.
Speaking during a European Union ministerial meeting on space in southwest France, Macron has said space has become an area of "contemporary conflict."
He has stressed the importance of space armament, the institutional launch of EU satellites and the development of a telecommunications constellation, which could be used to attain near-global connectivity coverage.
"All this is not science fiction, it's happening today, and there are massive investments being done by some of our competitors," Macron said, citing space efforts made by the United States and China.
Macron has praised recent milestones of the European Space Agency (ESA), including the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope from French Guiana in December and the participation of French astronaut for the ESA, Thomas Pesquet, in NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX mission.
The French president has mentioned that Europe is late in terms of space armament. Imagine, there were spy satellites that could seek to interact with our own telecommunication satellites. And other powers are developing technologies that will allow them to reach objects in orbit. All this is not science fiction - it's happening today, and there are massive investments being done by some of its competitors. He also said, its an urgent need.
He further says,iIt's more than ever necessary to apply a European preference for the institutional launch of satellites, just like their competitors. Macron says; “The Chinese are doing it, the Americans are doing it - why the devil Europe not doing this is a systematic manner?”
