By Chris Forrester
Moderator: Tom Stroup (President, Satellite Industry Association, SIA) asked his panel to examine whether Europe was ready with its own constellations.
Dallas Kasaboski (Principal Analyst, Analysys Mason) said that there were more than 200 constellations planned globally. Not all will happen, but this translates to a significant $200 million in communications alone. But the market cannot absorb 50 major developments.
Renato Panesi (Co-Founder and CCO, D-Orbit) told delegates that D-Orbit helps other constellations reach orbit. There is better access to funding in Europe whether for Series A or B funding with some projects getting very simple start-up funding from ESA. However, nobody has all the skills needed for every aspect of a project, and this is where we can help.
Dr. Martin Haunschild (Business Development Manager Space/Institutional Affairs, Mynaric AG). Mynaric is in the process of being acquired by Rocket Lab. He said that Europe already has independence from the US through Galileo, and finding the business case might not be easy. When Galileo was first envisioned, we had dozens of workshops looking at the possible use cases for Galileo.
Julian Fernandez (CEO, FOSSA Systems, based in Madrid) explained that Europe had plenty of talent, and cash. There are also capital efficiencies by working in Europe. Individual countries might not have a complete eco-system, but looking at Europe that eco-system exists. Fossa has successfully launched FossaSats into orbit. He stressed that one key advantage in Europe was in the Defense sector. “Business models, with defense in mind, might have to change. In my view that’s where the money will be.”
Laurent Jaffart (Director of Connectivity and Secure Communications, European Space Agency) told delegates that once upon a time a constellation was just 3 (Geo) satellites, but now we have OneWeb, O3b, and everyone looks at Starlink and its 7000+ constellation. “To be honest, Europe certainly has the brains but maybe not the same cash available as SpaceX. Now with IRIS2 we have three major industry operators in the SpaceRISE consortium, and since December 2024 when the agreement was signed one of the requirements was to match 5G. We wanted software-defined payloads. We also wanted sovereignty and independence. Europe is at the beginning, and the beginning of something that will grow, version by version. The SpaceRISE consortium is placing €4 billion of its own money into the project.”
He also warned that in Europe not all of the current names in the sector will survive. “Think about partnering, because there is not enough money to finance all of your ideas and projects,” said Jaffart.
Fossa’s Fernandez said his company was pragmatic and decided it wanted to get its plans into obit as quickly as possible. It has 20 satellites in orbit, and is already delivering services to clients.
Kasaboski advised panellists that standardisation need not be the key objective, same with interoperability. It very much depends on the application. “Find the right path,” he advised. “Business models are also going to shift. There are new options, not least with hosted payloads. New applications are emerging, and while larger players might have first-mover advantage, there are opportunities.”
Dr. Haunschild said his view was that open standards were very desirable, not least to enable ease of working with other multi-layer operators.
