Estonian official: “Demand for Sat-comms driving Space economy”
October 12, 2023
By Chris Forrester
Estonia’s Head of Space at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Paul Liias, says rising demand for satellite communications connectivity and earth observation data, combined with the war in Ukraine and international geopolitical tensions elsewhere, is driving interest and investment in the space economy and with it the commercial and operational importance of cybersecurity for space-based applications, systems and hardware.
Liias was speaking at the 2023 Software Defined Space Conference (SDSC) in Tallinn, Estonia. He added: “Over the last 12 months the conflict in Ukraine has underscored the strategic importance of space-based satellites and systems – more so than was the case three or four years ago. More than ever, we have a responsibility to manage and protect these systems properly with the latest cybersecurity measures.”
His presentation quoted data from investment bank Morgan Stanley which estimates that the global space industry, currently valued at approx. $350 billion, could rise in value to more than $1 trillion by the year 2040.
Liias also highlighted the need for regulation, a major theme for SDSC, commenting: “Our efforts to date have been on protecting critical infrastructure on the ground such as power stations, energy grids, telecoms networks and government IT. But the growing importance of the space domain together with geopolitical events of the last few years means we’ve expanded this focus. We now want to apply our cybersecurity expertise to space-based assets – whether it’s mission control centres and ground stations here on earth or manned and unmanned spacecraft above.”