What If European Space Systems Stopped Functioning For a Day?

Abstract

On June 22, 2030, somewhere in Europe, you wake up later than usual. You reach for your smartphone, but it did not recharge. You want to check your emails and the news, but there is no internet. You go out and find public transport disrupted and ATMs out of order. Reminiscent of the Covid lockdown of 2020, there are no planes in the sky. While the citizens of Europe are unaware of what is happening, its leaders have been informed that European space infrastructures have been disrupted. It is not yet clear whether that is due to a solar storm, advanced jamming of satellites or ground networks, anti-satellite technologies that have destroyed space assets, or a chain reaction caused by space debris like in the movie Gravity.