The European Commission’s vision for the Secure Connectivity initiative is becoming clearer, according to a paper presented to national delegations at the 26 October meeting of the EU Council’s Space working party, which was accessed by EUROPE on Friday 29 October.
According to the paper, the European Commission confirms a multi-orbital architecture built on GOVSATCOM and EuroQCi, the latter initiative aiming to build a secure quantum communication infrastructure that will cover the whole of the EU (see EUROPE 12771/13).
Four main scenarios (see EUROPE 12743/5) are still relevant: a small constellation of satellites in low earth orbit, a large constellation, a constellation in medium earth orbit or geostationary use.
Here, the European Commission seems to be moving towards a public-private partnership regime, either on a ‘concession’ model (such as the Pleiades programme) or an ‘availability’ model such as Skynet-5.
A completely public system (like Galileo) would not be able to provide a competitive commercial response, it says, while a completely private solution would raise security and sovereignty concerns.
The budgetary issue is also addressed and suggests a “mix” of funding from European programmes related to connectivity (such as GOVSATCOM, Horizon Europe, etc.), private sector investment and funding by Member States through the European Recovery Plan or directly from their national budgets.
A new study was launched in October, it says, for a period of 6 months. The objective is to evaluate some innovative, even “disruptive” approaches and the innovative potential of a new European “New Space” ecosystem.
The majority of Member States are said to have supported the public-private partnership approach. Several mentioned the question of how to implement the project, including its legal format and how to finance the project.
On the legal issue, the European Commission, during its presentation, reportedly remained silent on the reopening of the regulation on the EU space programme. If this were to happen, it would be opening up a Pandora’s box, a source told us.
The budget for such a project remains highly speculative for the time being. One thing is certain, another source assured us, the resources in the European budget are very limited for a project that certainly amounts to several billion euros.
The constellation project is expected to be discussed during the ‘Competitiveness’ Council of the EU on 26 November. A workshop with the Member States is planned for 30 November. A legislative act would be in view for January 2022, according to the document. However, the European Commission’s work programme foresaw a presentation in the second quarter of 2022 (see EUROPE 12815/2).
To consult the European Commission’s document: https://bit.ly/3GPXd64 (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)