The future of space infrastructure will increasingly depend on the ability to service and extend assets already in orbit.
On-orbit servicing is not a single technology. It is a tightly integrated system-of-systems combining robotics, guidance navigation and control, capture mechanisms, autonomy, mission design and system validation.
Yet technological capability alone does not create a viable service. Developing advanced solutions is only meaningful if they respond to clearly identified operational and market needs.
Within EROSS SC, engagement with potential future users – civil and military, commercial and institutional – is essential to ensure that technical developments are aligned with realistic mission scenarios.
Regularly updated market analysis helps position the European servicing solution, identify priority applications and guide key architectural and design trade-offs. In this way, technical choices are informed not only by engineering feasibility but also by operational demand and long-term sustainability.
For Europe, the challenge is therefore not only technological development. It is the construction of a coherent value chain.
