Unlock Editor’s Digest Lock for Free
As the European Space Agency prepares to drive the largest budget in its 50-year history, it is seeking 1 billion euros to develop a new satellite network that will provide military-grade intelligence to the EU.
ESA Director Josef Aschbacher said the agency is exploring a network that can collect “very high resolution optical radar data” with computing and artificial intelligence capabilities, at the request of member states and the EU.
“This will be very important,” Ashbacher said.
The cost of delivering this, he said, would be “something about 1 billion euros if member states subscribe to it,” along with ground infrastructure and launch.
The new network, first openly discussed last March, is the first Big ESA program designed for dual use. Therefore, it is defense and security, and civil purpose. Initially it was expected to consist of 15-30 advanced Earth observation satellites, but it can expand over time.
Maxime Puteaux, principal of Space Consultancy Novaspace, said the estimate of 1 billion euros is likely to be initial spending only.
“A full-scale Earth planting constellations with multi-orbit Earth observation capabilities could easily range from 4 billion to 6 billion euros on the horizon in 10-15,” he said.
Based on the ambitions expressed by the European Commission, “this could very well evolve into one of Europe’s most strategically important space investments over the next decade,” Putu added.
Ashbacher’s comments on the new constellations came at the end of the two-day meeting of the ESA’s 22 member states as they prepare for the Ministerial Council in November, when the institution’s budget for the next three years will be decided in November. The executive director confirmed that the agency is seeking a 36% increase in funds from around 23 billion euros.
A big jump will occur as Europe promotes defence spending, including space capabilities, and increases autonomy and security in light of new, more unstable Atlantic relations under President Donald Trump.
“We will clearly need to enhance existing systems or develop new systems that provide the most sophisticated space capabilities,” EU Defense Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said at a summit in Brussels.
He said it was “important” to have “very high resolution geographical illumination data” that can be collected every 30 minutes, not just once a day, which is today’s ability.
Meanwhile, ESA is struggling to adapt to the potentially devastating consequences of the dramatic budget cuts proposed to its main partner, the US NASA.
The White House proposes a 24% cut in the institution’s overall budget, including almost half of its funding for science. It is the smallest NASA budget since 1961 and the smallest scientific budget in over 40 years, according to the Planetary Society, a non-governmental organization in US space. Many European-affiliated programs, including some of the Artemis Moon Missions, are expected to be targeted for cuts, including the space station designed to orbit the moon.
The ESA was in discussion with an alternative mission for industry suppliers for programs that previously relied on NASA, said Daniel Neuenschwander, director of human and robot exploration at ESA.
ESA’s Science Director Carol Mandel suggested that three of the 19 science programs he shared with NASA could face challenges without a US partner. These are space probes for detecting gravitational waves, orbital missions to Venus equipped with NASA equipment, and Newathena, as they will be adopted by ESA member states in 2027.
But for the rest, “We believe that a great plan with the capabilities within our program could potentially mitigate the impact,” Mundell said.
