UK warns of satellite and space program problems in case of Brexit ‘no deal’
The U.K. government says that access to satellites and space
surveillance programs will suffer in the event of a “no deal” departure
from the European Union .
Britain has less than six months to go before the country leaves the
28-member state bloc, after a little over half the country voted to
withdraw membership from the European Union in a 2016 referendum. So
far, the Brexit process has been a hot mess of political infighting and
uncertainty, bureaucracy and backstabbing — amid threats of coups and
leadership challenges. And the government isn’t even close to scoring a
deal to keep trade ties open, immigration flowing and airplanes taking
off.
Now, the government has further said that services reliant on EU membership — like access to space programs — will be affected.
The reassuring news is that car and phone GPS maps won’t suddenly stop working.
But the government said that the U.K. will “no longer play any part” of
the European’s GPS efforts, shutting out businesses, academics and
researchers who will be shut out of future contracts, and “may face
difficulty carrying out and completing existing contracts.”
“There should be no noticeable impact if the UK were to leave the EU
with no agreement in place,” but the U.K. is investing £92 million ($120
million) to fund its own U.K.-based GPS system. The notice also said
that the U.K.’s military and intelligence agencies will no longer have
access to the EU’s Public Regulated Service, a hardened GPS system that
enhances protections against spoofing and jamming. But that system isn’t
expected to go into place until 2020, so the government isn’t
immediately concerned.
The U.K. will also no longer be part of the Copernicus program, an
EU-based earth observation initiative that’s a critical asset to
national security as it contributes to maritime surveillance, border
control and understanding climate change. Although the program’s data is
free and open, the U.K. government says that users will no longer have
high-bandwidth access to data from the satellites and additional data,
but admits that it’s “seeking to clarify” the terms.
Although this is the “worst-case scenario” in case of no final agreement
on the divorce settlement from Europe, with just months to go and a
distance to reach, it’s looking like a “no deal” is increasingly likely.
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