EU Commission @defis_eu issues RFP to NewSpace co's for ideas on future secure comms/QKD/brdbnd constellation. Sept 10 bid deadline; 2 winners to get EUR 1.4M ($1.65M) each for 6-month study, to include satellite, launch cost estimates. @DigitalEU @esa https://bit.ly/3BwKpPA
https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/1417442539137867790QuoteEU Commission @defis_eu issues RFP to NewSpace co's for ideas on future secure comms/QKD/brdbnd constellation. Sept 10 bid deadline; 2 winners to get EUR 1.4M ($1.65M) each for 6-month study, to include satellite, launch cost estimates. @DigitalEU @esa https://bit.ly/3BwKpPA
There could be another thorn in the Commission’s plan. While Breton has disowned Eutelsat and its investment in OneWeb, the UK firm has been eyeing Europe’s plans.The operator’s biggest backer, Indian billionaire Sunil Mittal of Bharti Global, is understood to have written to the European Commission expressing an interest in collaborating on the EU constellation.Project sources believe the EU wants a “sovereign” capability and any involvement from OneWeb is likely to be “difficult”.
Without reusable F9 rockets and future reusable Starships, building an alternative network will be quite expensive. Launch costs from other launch providers would have to come down.
Quote from: spacenut on 08/08/2021 01:32 pmWithout reusable F9 rockets and future reusable Starships, building an alternative network will be quite expensive. Launch costs from other launch providers would have to come down.It does solve the chicken-and-egg issue for developing a re-usable Ariane: a reusable Ariane that launches a handful of times per year cannot support the development costs and ongoing support (e.g. you can't employ a standing army to manufacture more vehicles when they only need to make one every few years, but if you fire them and close the facility then you have no fallback on loss of a vehicle) without ballooning launch costs to match expendable vehicles, but you can't launch tens to hundreds of times per year to bring the costs down if there is no demand, and there is no demand if the costs are not brought down. A constellation manufactures your own demand for a high flight rate, which justifies a re-usable launcher.
Musk is creating his own "reusability flight rate killer app" with Starlink. 42 000 satellites to launch - plenty enough to keep F9 and Starship busy for a very long time.
Without reusable F9 rockets and future reusable Starships, building an alternative network will be quite expensive. Launch costs from other launch providers would have to come down. ....
The best the EU can do is give the UK unrestricted access to Galileo in exchange for unrestricted access to Oneweb. That way the whole of Europe wins.
Quote from: daedalus1 on 08/10/2021 06:28 amThe best the EU can do is give the UK unrestricted access to Galileo in exchange for unrestricted access to Oneweb. That way the whole of Europe wins.Like with launch vehicles, that's a sovereignty rather than a technical issue (same reason why Galileo exists in the first place rather than 'just use GPS', why EDRS exists rather than 'just use TDRS', why CRS exists rather than 'just use Soyuz', etc).
The reason the UK has been excluded from the PRS segment is a sovereignty issue, not a technical one. Likewise, the reason the EU wants a domestically owned and operated communications network is a sovereignty requirement, not a technical one.
The European Commission, heading off the possibility that it will have neither the funds nor the expertise to manage a constellation of broadband/quantum communications satellites, has asked industry to assess less-costly alternatives.Options the Commission will assess include purchasing a minority stake in a non-EU constellation already being built. This capacity would later be supplemented by EU infrastructure.
EU Commission, facing budget, schedule issues, willing to consider buying stake in non-EU broadband constellation
A consortium of more than 20 European space companies said Dec. 8 it won a six-month contract to study disruptive ideas for Europe’s planned satellite broadband constellation.The contract from the European Commission is worth 1.4 million euros ($1.6 million) and was awarded to New Symphonie, a consortium led by market intelligence firm Euroconsult and French satellite surveillance startup Unseenlabs.New Symphonie aims to investigate and recommend the most optimal infrastructure for Europe’s sovereign multi-orbit connectivity vision, drawing on new business models and capabilities in the emerging space ecosystem.
Explore Future European Satellite ConstellationBy Rachel Jewett | December 13, 2021EuropeEuropean Union EU FlagThe European Commission has selected two consortiums of European space companies for initial study on a future European satellite constellation. A consortium called New Symphonie, led by Unseenlabs and Euroconsult, was announced Dec. 8. A second consortium, UN:IO, led by Mynaric, Isar Aerospace, and Reflex Aerospace was announced Monday.
