Abstract:

The development of the importance of space systems and capabilities in the functioning of critical infrastructures has led to the point where some space systems themselves can be considered critical infrastructure or critical components of the system-of-systems. One of the most important set of applications is related to resilience governance, where space systems might eventually play an outsized role. This is leading to a critical dependency issue which will generate new risks and vulnerabilities, in addition to the expected benefits. The present paper proposes a generic model of crisis oriented resilience governance with full spectrum use of space capabilities as an illustration of what can be achieved, exemplifying each step with real world inspirations and underlining other interesting dynamics, such as the security risk borne of the growing dependency on space systems themselves.