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Paper short abstract

The EU's Copernicus programme combines the most extensive infrastructure for Earth Observation, with an open-data policy. This paper applies a STS lens to analyse how Copernicus' infrastructure and data policy, are relating to EU integration and governance.

Paper long abstract

Earth Observation (EO) data, primarily drawn from satellite infrastructures, is becoming increasingly important for EU governance and, consequently, European integration. This has become evident in two ways: a) the Copernicus programme and its technologies are specifically developed to meet the needs of EU policymakers, and b) policy decisions across different scales are frequently based on Copernicus data. This paper explores the entanglements of EU governance paradigms and the Copernicus EO programme, drawing on concepts from STS, including co-production, boundary object/infrastructure and material politics.

For instance, I argue that by launching and operating Copernicus, the EU demonstrates its capacity to develop autonomous high-tech infrastructure, portraying itself as a unified, potent actor in the new space era—both symbolically through imaginaries and materially through technical capability. Simultaneously, the joint construction and operation of such a large-scale infrastructure materializes the European integration process and supports EU actors, both institutional and private, in becoming a durable supranational community. Further, Copernicus swiftly integrates fragmented national measurement methodologies and technologies into a centralized framework, which facilitates cross-border policy enforcement immensely. By making Copernicus data public, the EU disperses responsibility for developing digital products or acting upon immediate crises across a wide range of institutional and private actors. This shows how, through earth-space-entangled technologies, imaginaries and materialities are being shaped in the present and, even more so, towards the future.