European Space Companies for Launch and Orbital Surveillance
This report assesses Europe’s capacity to secure autonomous access to space and independent situational awareness by mapping the technical contributions of specialized deep-tech enterprises.
The achievement of technological sovereignty in the space domain is currently limited by structural dependencies in launch infrastructure and data catalogs for orbital surveillance. Institutional frameworks, including the Strategic Compass and the Defence Readiness Roadmap 2030, classify space as a contested strategic domain where freedom of action is contingent upon independent technical capabilities. Current assessments identify two primary bottlenecks: limited sovereign and responsive access to Low Earth Orbit for small payloads and replenishment, and insufficient European launch cadence and elasticity in the smallsat segment, together with a continued reliance on extra-European sources for high-resolution Space Situational Awareness (SSA) data. To mitigate these vulnerabilities, the European Union is fostering an ecosystem of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) capable of providing “ITAR-free” solutions and localized manufacturing. The integration of these actors into the European Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU-SST) framework is designed to provide a redundant layer of security for critical assets such as Galileo and Copernicus. This report adopts a fact-first approach, isolating technical data and Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) from documented industrial achievements. The analysis examines how the maturation of localized launch services and sensing technologies could potentially redefine the European pillar of collective defense1.