In May 2020, SpaceX made history by becoming the first private company in the world to send humans into space. For the first time in living memory, individuals were sent into space using a vessel neither manufactured nor owned by a government. This event effectively inaugurated the “space-for-space” industry, one that is aimed at providing goods and services to space clients and was a significant move towards building a space economy. As this commercial space industry blossoms, it intertwines intricately with defense, power grids, transportation, and communications application services. Nations in the US and Europe have already designated it as one of the critical infrastructures, making the fortification of cybersecurity in this sector an urgent mission.
Our publication takes a deep dive into the many dimensions of the developing commercial space industry. We cover herein:
- The rise of the space economy, and the way space has become the final frontier for commercialization and economic growth.
- How the space sector has been designated as a critical infrastructure, and analysis of the regulations from the US, Europe, and Japan centered around protecting their respective aerospace industries as they evolve.
- How some early space systems, due to a lack of comprehensive cybersecurity protection face increasingly severe cyberattack threats, not only involving space and ground facilities but also the entire supply chain.
- The conjunction of global economy and daily lives of people deeply reliant on space technologies turning space systems into the focal targets of the cyber battlefield.
- Space systems, their several architectural blocks, and the unique vulnerabilities and network risks they carry. These blocks include:
a) Space segment (containing communication links)
b) Ground segment (containing control center, launch facilities, and user segment devices)
c) Manufacturing segment (encompassing production, testing, and transportation)
- New space cybersecurity principles, applicable to space asset lifecycle frameworks, that can offer a more dynamic and rigorous approach to safeguarding an organization’s space assets.
