Faced with the private Starlink constellations of Elon Musk (42,000 satellites planned) or Kuiper of Jeff Bezos (3,200 satellites), Oneweb carried by the British government (650 satellites) or the Chinese Guowang project (13,000 satellites), the The challenge for Europe is to remain in control of its communications via space and to launch its constellation before orbits and frequencies become too congested.
A “historic decision”
The European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, who presented the day before a draft European regulation in this direction, for his part welcomed a “historic decision”.
According to him, the constellation will make it possible to put an end to “white zones” in Europe, to offer encrypted communications to States using quantum technologies, and to have redundancy with respect to terrestrial networks, targets of cyberattacks.
These satellites will orbit on a North-South axis and will therefore offer “over four time zones absolute coverage of European territory and Africa”, as well as the polar zones.
“The constellation should include around 250 satellites in low orbit”
“The constellation should include around 250 satellites in low orbit”, according to Mr. Le Maire. The first satellites should be operational in 2024.
The estimated cost is 6 billion euros. “The Commission is putting 2.4 billion euros on the table”, according to Mr. Breton, the rest will be distributed between States and private players.
However, the States have set the framework that the commercial profitability of the constellation is guaranteed, that SMEs “can be valued in this project” and that it is not done to the detriment of other programs, in particular the Copernicus surveillance program of the earth