Few people in the world can speak about outer space simultaneously from the perspective of someone who has flown there and someone who helps define the rules by which it will be used. Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu flew into space in a bipolar world, as part of the Intercosmos programme. He went on to chair the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space — COPUOS — and the Association of Space Explorers, served on the UN groups of governmental experts on space security and confidence-building measures, contributed to the Space2030 Agenda and coordinated the Global Expert Group on Sustainable Lunar Activities. Today he views the new competition for space from a rare vantage point: the direct experience of spaceflight combined with participation in building the international mechanisms designed to prevent space from becoming a new source of insecurity.
Ahead of the 77th International Astronautical Congress, to be held in Antalya between 5 and 9 October 2026 under the theme „The World Needs More Space„, Atlas News Romania spoke with Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu about the questions that will define the next stage of the space age: the confrontation between the United States and China, the vulnerability of orbital infrastructure, the militarisation of space, the future rules of human presence on the Moon, Europe’s strategic autonomy, and the place Romania can occupy in a competition in which technological power is increasingly becoming geopolitical power.
Yet the interview goes beyond the perspective of great-power competition. At its core lies a fundamental problem: whether humanity will manage to expand its space activities without destroying the very physical, political and legal conditions that make this expansion possible.
In Dumitru Prunariu’s view, space security cannot be built solely through deterrence, technological superiority or the accumulation of capabilities. Genuine stability depends on resilience, credible rules, transparency, effective incident-prevention mechanisms and, above all, on keeping channels of cooperation open between states even when they find themselves in direct strategic competition.
And Romania, he warns, must not remain a spectator. „Romania should not copy the great powers, but become indispensable in a few well-chosen fields.”
„Space has never been entirely insulated from terrestrial geopolitics”
Atlas News Romania: IAC 2026 takes place under the theme „The World Needs More Space”, at a moment when outer space is simultaneously a domain of scientific cooperation, an economic infrastructure and an arena of strategic competition. You have repeatedly underlined the direct link between terrestrial geopolitics and the space race. Can space still be preserved as a domain of international cooperation, or are we already entering a new logic of deterrence and competition among the great powers?
Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu: I do not believe we must choose between cooperation and competition, because both will characterise the new stage of space activities. Space has never been entirely insulated from terrestrial geopolitics. I myself flew as part of the Intercosmos programme, in a bipolar world, yet I later watched projects such as Apollo-Soyuz, the Mir station and the International Space Station build bridges even between states that disagreed on many other matters. Experience shows that political rivalry does not automatically preclude technical and scientific cooperation.
Today, however, the situation is more complex. We have more active states, private companies with considerable technological and financial power, orbital infrastructures that have become indispensable, and a much closer entanglement of civilian, commercial and military capabilities. Competition can accelerate innovation, but it becomes dangerous when it hardens into an exclusive logic of confrontation, when transparency, channels of communication and minimum rules of responsible behaviour are absent.
Cooperation remains not merely possible but necessary. Space debris, orbital traffic management, planetary protection, planetary defence, crew safety and deep-space exploration cannot be managed effectively by any single state. During the period when I chaired COPUOS, then as co-vice-chair of the Working Group on the Space2030 Agenda, as a member of the UN groups of governmental experts on transparency and confidence-building measures, and as president of the Association of Space Explorers, I found that dialogue remains possible even when political positions differ profoundly.
Space can therefore remain a domain of cooperation if institutions and rules evolve at the same pace as technology. We need notification and transparency, incident-prevention mechanisms, lines of communication for crisis situations, and clear commitments against actions that produce irreversible effects, such as the deliberate generation of large quantities of orbital debris. Real security is achieved not through deterrence alone, but through predictability and verifiable trust.
The United States and China. When space power becomes a multiplier of national power
Atlas News Romania: The United States and China are developing space programmes with major economic, technological and military implications, and the return to the Moon has become one of the expressions of this competition. Are we witnessing the mere extension into space of the strategic rivalry between Washington and Beijing, or could space superiority itself become a determining factor in the balance of power between the two states?
Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu: We are witnessing both processes. The strategic rivalry between the United States and China inevitably extends into space, but at the same time space capability is itself becoming a multiplier of national power. A state that enjoys assured access to orbit, precise navigation and timing, Earth observation, secure communications, industrial capacity and cislunar infrastructure expands its economic, diplomatic and military freedom of action.
The lunar competition carries stakes broader than prestige. It concerns access to regions of scientific and operational interest, the development of logistical infrastructure, the setting of technical and legal standards, and the formation of partner communities. The programmes associated with the Artemis initiative and the International Lunar Research Station project may lead to two parallel architectures. The risk lies not in the existence of different programmes, but in the absence of interoperability, information exchange and common rules for avoiding interference.
Still, I do not believe we can speak of a simple equation in which whoever arrives first or fields the most satellites automatically wins the global competition. What matters is the resilience of systems, the capacity for rapid replacement, the quality of alliances, the industrial base, human resources and the credibility of the norms a state proposes to others. Space superiority can decisively influence the balance of power, but it does not determine it on its own.
The rational objective of the international community must be to keep the competition within peaceful and manageable bounds. Even if broad political cooperation between Washington and Beijing is difficult, minimal areas of coordination are both possible and necessary: flight safety, the exchange of data on hazardous objects, emergency assistance, the protection of scientific sites and the deconfliction of lunar operations.
When satellites become targets: cascading effects and the risk of escalation
Atlas News Romania: Orbital infrastructure is already essential for intelligence, communications, navigation and military operations. If the militarisation of space is, as you have said, already a reality, how vulnerable does international security become the moment satellites and orbital infrastructures can turn into strategic objectives in a conflict?
Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu: The vulnerability is very high precisely because modern societies’ dependence on space infrastructure has grown enormously. Without satellites, it is not only military operations that would be affected, but also transport, banking systems, telecommunications, meteorology, agriculture, emergency response and the functioning of many energy networks. In this sense, an attack on space infrastructure could produce cascading effects on civilian populations and the global economy.
We must also draw an important distinction. The military use of space has existed since the beginning of the space age; the deliberate transformation of space objects into targets or instruments of armed confrontation represents a different order of risk.
Radio interference, jamming and signal spoofing, cyberattacks, sensor dazzling, attacks on the ground segment or the use of anti-satellite weapons can be difficult to attribute quickly. This ambiguity increases the risk of misinterpretation and escalation.
The answer cannot be a promise of invulnerability, but the building of resilience: distributed architectures, redundancy, cyber protection, rapid reconstitution capacity, alternative services, better space situational awareness and joint incident-management exercises. In parallel, norms of responsible behaviour, notifications and consultation procedures must be agreed for situations liable to be perceived as hostile.
My experience in the UN groups of governmental experts on transparency and confidence-building measures, as well as on the prevention of an arms race in outer space, convinced me that political and legal instruments should not be set against each other. Voluntary measures can reduce risks immediately, while legal agreements can later consolidate obligations. An essential starting point would be the avoidance of destructive tests that generate debris, and the establishment of permanent communication mechanisms between civilian and military operators.
The rules of the Moon. „ATLAC does not aim to create a government of the Moon”
Atlas News Romania: The return to the Moon raises a problem that goes beyond scientific exploration. The Outer Space Treaty excludes territorial appropriation, yet permanent bases, resource exploitation and possible safety zones can generate forms of de facto control. Given your experience within COPUOS, do you consider the current system of international law prepared for the moment when several powers will have permanent interests in the same regions of the Moon?
Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu: The current system of international law offers solid principles, but it is not yet sufficiently detailed for the density and complexity of the activities being prepared on the Moon. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty establishes the freedom of exploration and use, the responsibility of states and the prohibition of national appropriation. These principles must be preserved. They do not, however, tell us in operational terms how multiple actors wishing to work simultaneously in the same region should proceed, how they should use resources, protect an experiment or avoid harmful interference.
Safety zones can be useful as temporary and proportionate instruments of information-sharing and deconfliction. They must not, however, become exclusive zones, unlimited in time or space, or substitutes for sovereignty. This is precisely where the need arises for an international consultation mechanism, within which states and operators would communicate in advance the location, nature and duration of their activities, resolve incompatibilities and refrain from unilateral measures with irreversible effects.
After the work I coordinated within the Global Expert Group on Sustainable Lunar Activities of the Moon Village Association, I became even more convinced that practical rules must be discussed before large numbers of missions are installed on the lunar surface. On behalf of Romania, I promoted within COPUOS the proposal for a consultation mechanism for lunar activities and the initiative that led to the establishment, by consensus, at the Committee’s 67th session in June 2024, of the Action Team on Lunar Activities Consultation, ATLAC. Romania holds the co-chairmanship of this action team alongside Pakistan.
ATLAC does not aim to create a „government of the Moon”, nor to needlessly reopen the fundamental treaties. The objective is to develop, within the multilateral and inclusive framework of COPUOS, recommendations for a possible international consultation mechanism. Among the essential topics are information exchange, operational coordination, the prevention of interference, the transparent use of resources, the protection of sites of scientific and historical value, emergency assistance and the swift resolution of disputes. It is a concrete Romanian contribution to the future governance of the Moon, and I believe it must be seen through before practice becomes the source of conflict.
„European strategic autonomy is not credible without a corresponding autonomy in space”
Atlas News Romania: Europe speaks increasingly of strategic autonomy, yet remains dependent on external partners for certain fundamental space capabilities. Can the European Union credibly aspire to strategic autonomy without a corresponding autonomy in space, and what should Europe change so as not to be left stranded between the United States and China in the new space competition?
Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu: European strategic autonomy is not credible without a corresponding autonomy in space. But autonomy does not mean isolation or absolute self-sufficiency. It means the capacity to make decisions and to act when an external partner cannot or will not provide an essential service.
Europe holds first-rank assets: Galileo, Copernicus, EGNOS, the scientific and technological competence of ESA, a high-performing industry and a solid tradition of cooperation. At the same time, recent difficulties in access to space, the fragmentation of procurement and dependencies in certain technology chains have shown that isolated excellence is not enough.
Europe must act simultaneously in several directions: guarantee autonomous and competitive access to orbit, with an adequate launch cadence; develop secure and resilient governmental communications through GOVSATCOM and IRIS²; protect the Galileo and Copernicus services and strengthen space surveillance and traffic management; better integrate the civilian, commercial and defence dimensions; and accelerate procurement so that European companies have a sufficient internal market in which to grow.
From my experience within ESA structures, including as vice-chair of the International Relations Committee, I have observed that Europe is strong when it aggregates its competences and sets long-term objectives. The transatlantic partnership remains essential, but a partnership is stronger between capable actors. Europe must not be a passive space between the United States and China, but a technological and normative pole with the capacity to act independently and to cooperate credibly.
Romania: „International relevance does not come from declarations”
Atlas News Romania: You recently warned that Romania must not regard space as a luxury but as a component of security and defence, and that it must move from the status of consumer of space services to that of contributor. What are the two or three capabilities in which Romania should invest as a priority over the next decade in order to acquire genuine strategic relevance?
Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu: I would concentrate investment in three groups of capabilities, built in direct connection with the programmes of ESA, the European Union and NATO, not as isolated national projects.
First, Romania needs its own capabilities for exploiting Earth observation data and for secure communications. This means processing centres, artificial intelligence, applications for defence, agriculture, the environment and emergency situations, but also participation with instruments, payloads or small satellites in European architectures. Sovereignty does not necessarily require a fully national constellation; it requires guaranteed access to data, the capacity to interpret them and the right to contribute to the systems on which we depend.
Second, Romania’s contribution to space surveillance and tracking, space weather and planetary defence must be developed. Romania can leverage its geographical position, its observation infrastructure and its existing competences to supply useful data to European networks. An independent and precise picture of the orbital environment is a security capability, not merely a scientific one.
Third, a niche industrial chain must be consolidated: sensors, on-board electronics and software, robotics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, antennas and telemetry, tracking and command services, and the integration and testing of small satellites. The Cheia centre and the experience accumulated in institutes, universities and companies can serve as starting points, if they are linked through multi-annual programmes and predictable orders.
All of this requires a coherent national strategy, stable budgets, civil-military coordination, a strong Romanian Space Agency and investment in people. From the period when I led the Romanian Space Agency, I learned that international relevance does not come from declarations, but from continuity, competence and contributions on which partners can rely. Romania should not copy the great powers, but become indispensable in a few well-chosen fields.
IAC 2026 and the question that goes beyond the race to arrive first
Atlas News Romania: IAC 2026 will bring together in Antalya space agencies, governments, industry, researchers and the sector’s new commercial actors. Beyond the technologies and projects that will be presented, what do you consider to be the strategic question on which the international community should urgently begin a serious discussion at this congress?
Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu: The strategic question I would formulate is this: how can we rapidly expand space activities without destroying the physical, political and legal conditions that make this expansion possible? In other words, how do we transform growth into a sustainable, safe and accessible process before a major crisis forces us to react in haste?
This question has three inseparable dimensions. The first is technical sustainability: orbital debris, space traffic, frequencies and the protection of infrastructures. The second is security: incident prevention, transparency and the reduction of escalation risk. The third is equity: how we ensure access for new states and future generations to the benefits of space, without the regions and resources of interest being controlled de facto by the first actors to arrive there.
The IAC is not a forum for intergovernmental negotiation, but it is the place where the space community can build the common language, technical standards and professional pressure needed for governments to act. Industry must accept that speed and innovation do not exempt it from responsibility; states must develop rules before incompatible practices become entrenched; research must provide verifiable data and solutions.
ATLAC is a concrete example of how a concern initially discussed among experts can be transformed into a multilateral process within COPUOS. In Antalya we should connect technical and commercial initiatives more closely with the UN processes. The theme „The World Needs More Space” should be understood not only as a call for more launches, but also as the need for more space for cooperation, responsibility and participation.
„Seen from space, the Earth has no visible borders”
Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu: My international work has pursued, in different forms, the same idea: space must remain a factor of development and cooperation, not a new source of insecurity. From chairing COPUOS and the Association of Space Explorers, to the drafting of the Space2030 Agenda, participation in the UN expert groups on space security, the promotion of international planetary defence measures and of International Asteroid Day, the coordination of the Global Expert Group on Sustainable Lunar Activities and the initiation of ATLAC, I have tried to bring the practical perspective of someone who has seen the Earth from outside it into international decision-making processes.
Seen from space, the Earth has no visible borders, and the atmosphere that protects our entire civilisation appears extraordinarily thin. This image is not merely moving; it leads to a strategic conclusion. We are interdependent, and the great risks respect no borders. The way we manage outer space will be a test of our political maturity and of our capacity to cooperate before a crisis emerges.
For the public in Romania, my message is that our country can play a greater role than its size would suggest, if it chooses its priorities intelligently and pursues them with perseverance. A state that only buys services remains dependent; a state that trains specialists, develops technologies and contributes to rules acquires security, influence and respect. At IAC 2026, I hope we will discuss not only who will arrive first or who will hold the greatest capabilities, but how we can remain responsible partners and neighbours as ever more actors make their way there.
Forty-five years after he first looked down at the Earth from orbit, Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu speaks of space not merely as a frontier of exploration, but as a domain that must be managed responsibly. Between the cosmonaut who saw a planet without borders and the expert who today helps define the international mechanisms for lunar activities runs the same fundamental idea: cooperation must be built before rivalry becomes conflict. Space is no longer just a destination. It is a responsibility. And the test, as he himself says, is only beginning.
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