The European Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, reiterated, during his opening speech at the 13th European Space Conference on Tuesday 12 January, his desire to move forward “quickly” to develop a new space connectivity initiative, which would become the Union’s third flagship space programme alongside Galileo and Copernicus.
“My objective is to go fast. And it would therefore be appropriate for the Commission to present this year - yes, this year! - a proposal to the European Parliament and the Council so that we can move concretely”, he announced.
The project (see EUROPE 12619/24) would pursue several objectives, he explained, starting with ensuring high-speed connectivity throughout Europe. The other objective is to guarantee maximum security for communications using quantum technology. On the question of security, Mr Breton stressed that this technology would also make it possible to keep the continent “connected” no matter what happens, even in the event of a massive attack on the networks.
The Commissioner took the opportunity to clarify his vision. “I would like that this project is designed as a multi-orbital initiative, combining LEO (Low Earth Orbit) infrastructures with others, including GEO (Geostationary Orbit )”. This project, he said, will enhance the Galileo signal (making it able to withstand various potential interferences), but will also strengthen Copernicus’ capacities ( for real-time missions). Finally, it will perform Space Surveillance and Tracking directly from space.
The year 2021 will thus be used to define the initiative, according to a European source. A study has recently been launched by the European Commission, which will run for the first four months of the year in order to establish the main features of the project (the approach that will be adopted, the frequencies used, etc.) as well as to estimate its cost. The remaining eight months will allow for more in-depth work to define the parameters of the project, particularly governance.
The budget is not known at the moment (some speak of €6 billion). However, even if there is no specific budget line in the new multiannual financial framework, it is possible to be “innovative”, we are told, with an “intelligent blending” of funding from different European programmes (GovSatCom, SST, the Defence Fund or the European Recovery Plan), national funding and the private sector. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)