Anticipating uncertainty: The security of European critical outer space infrastructures

Terrestrial societies are heavily dependent on Earth-orbiting satellites for the provision of services which many people now take for granted. However, with this dependence comes a need to preserve the transmission of these services whilst faced with a number of risks and dangers, including intentional interference, space debris and radiation emanating from space weather phenomena. The European Union (EU) has identified these services, along with the satellites and networks which provide them to its citizens, as critical infrastructures, indicating the need for their security. The article frames the EU's efforts to secure its critical outer space infrastructures, namely the draft International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities and the Space Situational Awareness programme, through the lens of anticipatory security. The article concludes that both these approaches to outer space security are predicated upon the precautionary acknowledgement of risks or threats and involve mostly preemptive measures alongside some elements of prevention.