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).

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