The European Commission is gearing up to publish the world’s first comprehensive space law.

Not content with regulating fertilizers, cars and cheeses, Brussels is looking to create an EU Space Label it could soon slap on rockets and satellites as part of efforts to force companies to use orbit responsibly.

“With each passing day, space is becoming more like the Wild West, and it’s time to have European rules,” said Christophe Grudler, a member of the European Parliament from France who is leading legislative work on IRIS2, the EU’s answer to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite communications system.

The European Commission is expected propose the world’s first comprehensive space law after Easter.

According to documents seen by POLITICO, the bloc’s diplomats have been briefed on plans to create an EU Space Label that will be used to designate companies that play by the new rules on sustainability and security, much in the same way that the bloc uses eco-labels to certify washing machines or televisions.

  • Flying Squid
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    143 months ago

    They don’t just need to be regulated, they need to be stopped except for essential things. The new space race is helping to destroy the climate based on studies of the upper atmosphere.

    https://www.space.com/rocket-exhaust-pollution-upper-atmosphere

    I am absolutely not against things like communications satellites and space probes, but things like Starlink, which require launch after launch and constant replacement as satellites fail, are making the climate worse.

      • @dezmd@lemmy.worldM
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        03 months ago

        Latency becomes a considerable issue at the L points and it’s why Starlink style deployment is useful. This is not really an argument to use in this case.