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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Keele Research Repository This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights and duplication or sale of all or part is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for research, private study, criticism/review or educational purposes. Electronic or print copies are for your own personal, non- commercial use and shall not be passed to any other individual. No quotation may be published without proper acknowledgement. For any other use, or to quote extensively from the work, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder/s. The security of the European Union’s critical outer space infrastructures Phillip A. Slann This electronic version of the thesis has been edited solely to ensure compliance with copyright legislation and excluded material is referenced in the text. The full, final, examined and awarded version of the thesis is available for consultation in hard copy via the University Library Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations March 2015 Keele University Abstract This thesis investigates the European Union’s (EU) conceptualisation of outer space security in the absence of clear borders or boundaries. In doing so, it analyses the means the EU undertakes to secure the space segments of its critical outer space infrastructures and the services they provide. The original contribution to knowledge offered by this thesis is the framing of European outer space security as predicated upon anticipatory mechanisms targeted towards critical outer space infrastructures. The objective of this thesis is to contribute to astropolitical literature through an analysis of the EU’s efforts to secure the space segments of its critical outer space infrastructures, alongside a conceptualisation of outer space security based upon actor-specific threats, critical infrastructures and anticipatory security measures. The EU’s Galileo and Copernicus programmes are identified as future critical outer space infrastructures through their services’ expected contributions to EU-level policy-multiplication and European states and societies, making them examples of regional and global European space power projection. Following the designation of the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as critical outer space infrastructures, the thesis details the dangers and risks, both intentional and environmental, which the EU has publicly acknowledged as being the most threatening. Although the specific risk assessments for the Galileo and Copernicus projects are confidential, the generic dangers and risks for satellites in Lower Earth Orbit and Middle Earth Orbit referred to in EU policy documents are explored, including space debris, space weather phenomena, orbital congestion and the possibility of the future weaponisation of near-Earth space. i At a macro-level, the EU’s determination to mitigate both intentional and environmental risks through international diplomacy, improved satellite design and increased awareness of near-Earth space are analysed as being reflective of preventive and preemptive forms of anticipatory security. On a micro-level the EU’s efforts to protect its outer space infrastructures from said risks are framed within the context of critical infrastructure security. ii Table of contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................. i Table of contents .................................................................................................................. iii Figures and images ............................................................................................................... vi Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ xiv 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The issue at hand: (in)security in outer space ........................................................................... 3 1.2 Outer space and the astrophysical environment ........................................................................ 6 1.3 The foundations and context(s) of critical astropolitics .......................................................... 13 1.4 Defining outer space security .................................................................................................. 37 1.5 Scope, limitations and methods .............................................................................................. 43 1.6 Thesis structure ....................................................................................................................... 50 2 Europe and outer space ..................................................................................................... 53 2.1 Actors in European outer space activities ............................................................................... 54 2.2 Power projection and outer space ........................................................................................... 56 2.3 The origins of European collaboration in outer space ............................................................ 66 2.4 European launch capability and space power projection ........................................................ 68 2.5 The inevitable evolution: The militarisation of European activities in outer space ................ 70 2.6 The relationship between the terrestrial and outer space policies of the EU: European space power in action .............................................................................................................................. 78 2.7 Conclusion: European collaboration and space power projection .......................................... 83 3 European critical outer space infrastructures .................................................................... 85 iii 3.1 Securing the vital: Critical infrastructures and the need for their protection .......................... 87 3.2 Critical Infrastructure Protection versus Critical Infrastructure Resilience ............................ 93 3.3 European Critical Infrastructures .......................................................................................... 106 3.4 CIP, CIR and European security in outer space .................................................................... 115 3.5 Galileo ................................................................................................................................... 121 3.6 Copernicus ............................................................................................................................ 129 3.7 Galileo and Copernicus: Future European critical infrastructures ........................................ 138 3.8 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 158 4 Intentional man-made threats to the security of critical outer space infrastructures ....... 161 4.1 The militarisation and weaponisation of outer space ............................................................ 162 4.2 Signal disruption ................................................................................................................... 189 4.3 Congestion as a threat to outer space activities ..................................................................... 192 4.4 The legal regime on outer space activities ............................................................................ 195 4.5 European efforts to promote sustainable outer space activities: the draft International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities ............................................................................................ 199 4.6 Intentional threats to critical outer space infrastructures and European outer space security .................................................................................................................................................... 211 5 Environmental hazards to the security of critical outer space infrastructures ................ 214 5.1 Natural environmental risks .................................................................................................. 215 5.2 Space debris .......................................................................................................................... 229 5.3 Resilience in European outer space activities ....................................................................... 256 5.4 The astro- and geopolitics of the European SSA and SST programmes ............................... 259 5.5 Extra-terrestrial environmental security and the security of critical infrastructures ............. 263 iv 6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 268 6.1 Europe, outer space and European critical outer space infrastructures ................................. 269 6.2 The security of European critical outer space infrastructures ............................................... 272 6.3 Opportunities for further research ......................................................................................... 277 References .........................................................................................................................