New Space Sector Working Group on Energetic Materials

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Eurospace announces the creation of a new Working Group addressing “Energetic Materials” used in the European Space Sector.

Hazardous substances part of space propellants and explosives – altogether “Energetic Materials” – may at any time be taken up or prioritised by EU Member States, the European Commission or the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) for regulatory action under the EU REACH Chemicals Regulation (EC) 1907/2006 or other pieces of EU legislation, potentially affecting their use in current and future European space programmes. There is a clear mismatch of timelines between the introduction of such regulatory measures (a couple of years) and the duration of space programmes (up to several decades). Therefore, early intelligence about the criticality of substances part of Energetic Materials, their regulatory status, possible regulatory actions and input to regulators flagging the impact to the Space Sector is very important.

The Energetic Materials Working Group (EMWG) has been created to jointly set up a broader regulatory monitoring and response frame and take the required actions to determine and mitigate possible regulatory obsolescence risks (mainly but not limited to EU REACH) for space propellants and explosives (i.e. Energetic Materials).

The EMWG is an initiative of the Materials and Processes Technology Board of the European Space Components Coordination (ESCC MPTB), a partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA), national space agencies, and space industry represented by ASD-Eurospace.

Industrial participants of the EMWG are initially:

  • Airbus Defence & Space,
  • ArianeGroup,
  • Avio,
  • RUAG,
  • Thales Alenia Space.

The Working Group is also attended by the European Space Agency and the following national space agencies: Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR). The European Defence Agency (EDA) is an observer.

Producers of propellants and explosives may also volunteer to become part of or be invited to the Working Group to give their in-depth expertise.

ASD-Eurospace is acting as the Secretariat and REACHLaw Ltd. as consultant.

Contacts:

  • Project Management and Key REACH Expert: Tim Becker, Senior Legal Advisor, REACHLaw Ltd., tim.becker@reachlaw.fi; +358 (0)40 773 8143
  • Secretariat: Pierre Lionnet, Research and Managing Director, ASD-EUROSPACE, pierre.lionnet@eurospace.org, +33-(0)1 44 42 00 70