French, German and Italian officials have agreed that their governments will help support the EU’s proposed IRIS² broadband low Earth orbiting satellite mega-constellation. The agreements came on November 22nd at the start of a Ministerial meeting to examine EU and European Space Agency (ESA) projects and future financing. France, Germany and Italy said public funding […]
Ahead of the ministerial meeting due November 22nd-23rd, an agreement was reached between the EU Parliament, European Space Agency and EU member states to invest €2.4 billion ($2.48bn) in the proposed IRIS² low Earth orbiting broadband and sat-nav scheme. The IRIS² (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) project will build and operate an […]
The European Space Agency (ESA) and its Navigation Directorate says it is moving ahead with its plans to improve satellite navigation and perhaps further expanding to include a European – but global – low Earth orbiting fleet. “Now, [with] numerous low Earth orbit constellations already taking shape around the globe, the time is right to […]
The European Space Agency (ESA) has admitted that the delayed launched of Arianespace’s new Ariane 6 rocket is not now likely to make its debut flight for another year. The new hope is for a launch in Q4 2023. Ariane 6 was first planned to launch in July 2020. Covid hasn’t helped, but with the […]
Celestia UK has won a €800,000 ESA NAVSIP (Navigation, Innovation and Support Programme) contract to develop an innovative PNT (Positioning, Navigation & Timing) solution based on LEO satellite constellations for 5G networks and applications, that will boost the reliability and performance of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Called LEO-SYN+, the ESA project will use LEO […]
The European Space Agency (ESA) is looking for its member states to fund an initial €100 million for a mini-constellation of between 6-12 low Earth orbiting (LEO) test satellites to launch during 2026. The cash will be used to build and launch the new constellation. If the tests work out then the bill will be […]
SES recently announced it was leading a consortium which was developing Eagle-1, described as a ‘quantum cryptography technology’ demonstration satellite. Launching in 2024 it will test quantum key distribution via satellite, and designed to be super-secure. It could lead to a new fleet of satellites for SES. The agreement between SES, the European Space Agency […]
Satellite operator SES, along with the European Space Agency (ESA) and a consortium of 20 European companies, have come together to design, develop, launch and operate the EAGLE-1 satellite-based end-to-end system for secure Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), enabling in-orbit validation and demonstration of next-generation cyber security across Europe. The partnership between ESA and the SES-led […]
Launched in July 2021 to a location at 48 degrees East, the European Space Agency (ESA) says that Eutelsat’s Quantum satellite is not only busy, but filling up with 6 out of its 8 beams sold. Quantum is a fully-reconfigurable software-defined satellite with extremely sophisticated benefits. It mainly serves the Middle East and North African […]
The European Space Agency (ESA) is contemplating using a number of SpaceX launch rockets to maintain its scientific and governmental missions because of delays to Ariane’s rockets and the absence of Russian rockets because of the Ukraine boycotts. ESA’s DG Josef Aschbacher, talking to Reuters, said that there were a number of options including Japanese […]