https://spacewatch.global/features/ AN INDEPENDENT PERSPECTIVE ON SPACE Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:50:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1 https://spacewatch.global/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/SpaceWatchGlobal-Sign-90x90.png https://spacewatch.global/features/ 32 32 https://spacewatch.global/2026/08/spacewatchgl-space-unromanced-the-price-of-looking-up/ Fri, 21 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76628
Written by Raoul Cardellini Leipertz
Space talks endlessly about attracting the next generation. But behind the promise of meritocracy lies a quieter barrier: who can actually afford the education, opportunities and unpaid experience required to enter the sector?]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/08/spacewatchgl-gray-space-usspacecom-2040-space-warfare-no-way-but-the-hard-way/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76504
Written by Christophe Bosquillon
USSPACECOM’s Space Warfighting Environment 2040 sees space as a permanently contested domain where resilience, interoperability and integration determine advantage. In the first instalment of Gray Space, Christophe Bosquillon examines what this doctrine means for allies – and why Europe’s ambitions for strategic autonomy may collide with Washington’s operational logic.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/08/spacewatchgl-orbital-venturing-chapter-5-organising-for-success/ Wed, 19 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76442
Written by Jascha Langenberg
Reaching industrial scale creates a new challenge for space start-ups: the organisation itself. Chapter 5 explores how founders, teams and structures must evolve as a start-up grows – and why the habits that enabled early success can eventually hold a company back.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/08/spacewatchgl-opinion-europes-orbital-future-innovation-integration-or-irrelevance/ Tue, 18 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76438
Written by K.-P. Ludwig
SPRIND’s 2026 space strategy imagines a sovereign European orbital economy built on innovation and autonomy. But the U.S. Space Command’s SWE 2040 describes a very different future: a contested domain shaped by interoperability, resilience and military integration. Can Europe pursue both sovereignty and integration, or will it ultimately have to choose?]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/08/spacewatchgl-inside-eo-a-satellite-cannot-see-a-difference/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76328
Written by Karolina Sarna
Why do some Earth Observation applications become thriving commercial markets while others never move beyond pilots? In this edition of Inside EO, Karolina Sarna introduces the Change–Difference Ladder, showing why satellite data only creates value when an external rule turns change into a difference somebody is accountable for.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/08/spacewatchgl-analysis-which-side-of-the-road/ Fri, 14 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76597
Written by Valentin Eder & Torsten Kriening
As orbital data centres converge on the same valuable dawn-dusk sun-synchronous orbits, a fundamental question remains unanswered: who decides the rules of the road? SpaceWatch.Global examines the emerging traffic, safety and governance challenge, and why Europe should help shape the answer.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/08/spacewatchgl-inside-eo-a-job-is-not-a-market/ Thu, 13 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76314
Written by Karolina Sarna
Seventy-five accountable jobs across nine domains reduce to five. A map of the demand side Earth observation feeds, and why an empty seat is not an opening.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/08/spacewatchgl-analysis-indias-space-industry-push-pays-off-with-successful-launch/ Wed, 12 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76319
Written by Edd Gent
India’s efforts to grow a globally competitive private space industry are beginning to pay off, with a successful orbital launch by startup Skyroot Aerospace on 18 July.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/08/spacewatchgl-opinion-europes-space-leadership-enters-an-uncertain-autumn/ Tue, 11 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76324
Written by Gilles Rabin
As Europe prepares for a new political and conference season, questions about leadership, industrial strategy and long-term ambition are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. From lunar exploration to IRIS² and France's role within Europe, the coming months may prove decisive for the continent's space future.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/08/spacewatch-inside-eo-the-value-was-never-in-the-satellite/ Mon, 10 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76310
Written by Karolina Sarna
Commercial Earth Observation has spent years improving satellite capabilities while searching for demand. In this edition of Inside EO, Karolina Sarna argues that value is not created by better data, reasoning layers, or messaging, but only when an observation changes a decision someone is accountable for.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/08/spacewatchgl-analysis-isu-three-weeks-on-whose-name-is-it/ Fri, 07 Aug 2026 09:01:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76303 Three weeks after the Strasbourg campus was liquidated, ISU's survival is no longer the question. Two efforts now claim its future on incompatible terms, a formal legal notice has replaced a cancelled meeting, and the city that holds the ground has not chosen. Meanwhile, half the affected students are improvising.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/08/spacewatchgl-inside-eo-the-right-to-be-wrong/ Thu, 06 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76096
Written by Karolina Sarna
Earth Observation is always a model, sold as a measurement. It cannot become infrastructure until it is allowed to be wrong, and that permission is conferred from outside the vendor, never bought.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/08/spacewatchgl-feature-the-kriening-10-and-what-it-revealed/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76176 Ten posts, one a day, each built on an uncomfortable question about European space - and released while their author was on holiday. Torsten Kriening on what The Kriening 10 revealed, where he was corrected, and why the questions matter now.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/08/spacewatchgl-opinion-europes-space-dilemma-sovereignty-or-global-broker/ Tue, 04 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76091
Written by K.-P. Ludwig
Europe cannot outspend the United States or outscale China. Instead of chasing a two-horse race, this opinion argues that Europe's future influence may lie in combining strategic autonomy with global partnership, sustainability and rule-making.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/08/spacewatchgl-inside-eo-dual-use-is-a-cost-function/ Mon, 03 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76086
Written by Karolina Sarna
Earth observation companies pitch 'dual-use' as optionality, a second market stacked on the climate business. It is a cost function, not an opportunity: one capability the state can place on either side of a line it controls, and when the line is drawn the commercial buyer is the one moved to the back. Planet's Iran-war imagery blackout is the assumption coming due.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/07/spacewatchgl-analysis-a-space-programme-or-just-a-subscription/ Fri, 31 Jul 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76056
Written by Timo Krone
Why strategic autonomy in space is no longer measured by launches, but by control over infrastructure. ]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/07/spacewatchgl-opinion-europes-innovation-problem-isnt-innovation/ Thu, 30 Jul 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76027
Written by Judith Delany
Europe produces world-class research, engineering and ambitious space projects. So why do so many ideas struggle to become commercial success stories? This opinion argues that the answer may lie not in technology, but in the handover between the communities responsible for turning innovation into reality.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/07/spacewatchgl-inside-eo-the-missing-layer-part-3-the-road-to-scale/ Wed, 29 Jul 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=76001
Written by Karolina Sarna
The missing middle layer is beginning to emerge—but not everywhere, and not all at once. In the final part of this Inside EO analysis, Karolina Sarna examines where commercial Earth Observation markets are taking shape, the signals that matter most, and why today's strategic decisions will determine tomorrow's industry.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/07/spacewatchgl-space-unromanced-looking-up-more-closely/ Tue, 28 Jul 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=75966
Written by Raoul Cardellini Leipertz
Space is often presented as a story of progress, exploration, and opportunity. But who gets to be part of that story, and under what conditions? In the first instalment of *Space, Unromanced*, Raoul Cardellini Leipertz introduces a new column exploring the structures, assumptions, and power dynamics that shape the space sector beyond the headlines. ]]> https://spacewatch.global/2026/07/spacewatchgl-opinion-natos-halo-european-integration-or-intelligence-fragmentation/ Fri, 24 Jul 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=75911
Written by Christophe Bosquillon
NATO's new HALO initiative promises to connect allied military satellite networks, but where does it fit within Europe's already complex intelligence architecture? From APSS and bilateral intelligence exchanges to the EU's strategic autonomy ambitions, this analysis examines whether HALO represents deeper integration or another layer of fragmentation.]]>