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The European Union and the member states are keen on developing an "ambitious outer space policy", which targets the consolidation of the European industry in the field, increasing access to space and continuing to develop European programs, including through launching a new generation of satellites, declared on Tuesday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, at the debate "40 years since the first Romanian outer space flight: Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu. Romania's contribution to international research in the area of outer space sciences".
"The anniversary of the successful space mission of Mr. Prunariu represents a landmark which can offer new impulses for a more substantial contribution of Romania in the area of outer space technology and promoting cooperation in this field. In the complex societies in which we are living today, the role held by aerospace technologies grows at an accelerate rate, becoming an integral part of our daily life. From telecommunication to television, to meteorology and other applications and services, all these areas depend on the extra atmospheric space in order to function," Minister Aurescu said.
"The Union and member states, including Romania, are keen to develop an ambitious outer space policy, which implies consolidating European industry in the area, increasing access to space and continuing to develop European programs, including by launching a new generation of satellites. An important step in promoting this ambitious policy is the integral approach of the Union's actions through its new space program for the period of 2021-2027. Based on this, the new EU agency - the Agency for the European Space Program (EUSPA), will continue cooperating with member states and with the European Space Agency for supporting the European space industry, the innovation and the research for promoting European services in the area," Aurescu said.
The Minister showed that space needs to be subjected to its own international law regime, highlighting that space can also be subjected to abuse.
"It is the reason why NATO declared space as being an operational area, and the international community launched a debate regarding responsible behavior in space. Romania continues being active in developing standards in the space area and is involved in discussions at the level of the Commission I of the UN for disarmament and international security in regards to elaborating new norms of behavior for reducing threats in the outer space," the minister added.
The Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitalization, Ciprian Teleman, also manifested his support for the field of outer space and highlighted Romania's necessity in keeping its place among the elite of research and aerospace industry.
Dumitru Prunaiu talked during the debate about Romania's evolution in this area, from the moment he "touched" the outer space.
"It's been 40 years since I rose up to the skies, since I touched the outer space and brought Romania among the countries that can claim to have scientific, technological development and even industrial, at a superior level, of the countries that can take part with people in space programs. That leap was continued," Prunariu said.
