This article is published in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report part of Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN), and is complimentary through Sep 27, 2024. For information on becoming an AWIN Member to access more content like this, click here.
PARIS—The European Union should consider jump-starting a potentially ambitious Earth observation project in the face of new competition in the sector from SpaceX’s Starshield program, a senior Telespazio official has argued.
Starshield’s financial muscle, through its backing by one of the world’s richest individuals, Elon Musk, coupled with large contracts from the Pentagon make it a competitive threat, said Paolo Minciacchi, senior vice president at Telespazio, here at the World Space Business Week conference.
“No single company can manage the competition in a situation like that one,” Minciacchi said. If Europe wants sovereign capabilities, local suppliers need support, he added.
SpaceX has released few details of its Starshield program first disclosed in late 2022, saying it would address government needs in areas including Earth observation and communications and also support hosted payloads. Starshield builds on the company’s Starlink communications satellite but adds cryptographic protection features, the company has said.
In May, SpaceX used a Falcon 9 to launch satellites believed to be the first of a National Reconnaissance Office low-Earth-orbit constellation and a part of the company’s Starshield offering.
The European Union is considering a program called the Earth Observation Governmental Service. The bloc has signed study contracts with Telespazio and OHB to assess how to realize the concept. It would effectively be an Earth observation counterpart to the EU’s IRIS² satellite communication program. The Earth observation program currently would not be expected to start until around 2028 once the next seven-year EU budget is enacted, which Minciacchi argues may be too late.
Other European industry officials were more sanguine about the competition. Airbus’s Eric Even, head of Space Digital, said the company is taking Starshield “very seriously” given what SpaceX achieved with Starlink, but added that the Earth observation sector has been competitive for some time, driving innovation across suppliers.
Anders Linder, a general manager at Maxar, said Starshield will likely be only one of several new market entrants. He acknowledged it could make business more challenging but noted that current suppliers cannot always address all the demands of customers.
Related Content
