Macron says Europe must become ‘space power’ again

LE BOURGET, France: President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that Europe must again become a global space power, warning that France risked being squeezed out of the global low-orbit satellite constellation market.

Macron spoke at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget outside the French capital a day after France more than doubled its stake in satellite operator Eutelsat, the EU rival to Elon Musk´s Starlink.

Macron called for more investment as the European space industry struggles to remain competitive in the face of US and Chinese rivals.

“SpaceX has disrupted the market, Amazon is also getting involved. China is not far behind, and I think we all need to be very clear-headed,” Macron said.

Europe must become “a space power once again, with France at its heart”, he said.

He warned that Europeans were “on the verge of being completely” squeezed out of the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation market.

Orbiting just a few hundred kilometres above the Earth, low Earth orbit satellite networks can play a crucial role in various fields including telecommunications, emergency response, space exploration, and defence.

Growing geopolitical tensions have forced countries to focus on the independence of their satellite infrastructure.

Macron said France and its partners should not be reliant on non-European constellations in low orbit, calling it “madness”. He called non-European players to team up with France.