Proceedings for the Second Symposium on Space Economy, Space Law and Space Sciences
Economic Shocks and International Space Projects: The Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Oğuz KarasuA vast body of research exists around the space industry which has been growing significantly in almost every region of the world. The space industry is prone to major shifts in the world system where it could be considerably influenced by wars, pandemics and fluctuations in economies. For instance, the latest Russian invasion on Ukraine has had considerable impacts on economies all around the world. It is clearly seen that international projects and cooperation have been affected by this invasion that remains ongoing with a strong defense and response exemplified by Ukraine and the international community.
This paper discusses and analyzes whether international space projects are fragile when political shocks like the example of Russia and Ukraine are experienced. In recent years, other economic shocks have emerged including the Covid-19 pandemic and supply chain problems; however this paper will not take these into account in detail. Russia began its invasion on February 24, 2022 and as this paper is written, the war continues. Every other minute, new developments appear and those developments cause different reactions from all over the world. What demands more urgent attention than long-term prognosis is the shock wave that the war has triggered across the world economy, starting with the combatants, the wider region of Eastern and Central Europe, and global food and energy markets (Tooze, 2022). Additionally, many countries have applied heavy sanctions on Russia for economic reasons, whereby the most effective sanction was removing Russia from the SWIFT system which was implemented by the United States in order to limit Russia from the global financial system.
In this paper, the global economic outlook for 2022 will be discussed and in turn the global space economy and the actors in space will be talked about. Furthermore, the international space project and agreements will be analyzed with the economic shocks and evaluated to an extent using the limited data available. Finally, this paper will explore whether Russia’s invasion on Ukraine has exerted any influence on the space industry internationally and search for an answer about whether the space industry is entering a new phase or is it still possible for it to have a stance as if the war had never occurred.
