The satellite stomps on government communication and defense services

Professionals from all over Europe meet in Madrid to analyze the rise of government communication and defense services, addressing innovations and new technologies applied on a global stage.

The Madrid Chamber of Commerce together with the Luxembourg Hispanic Economic Forum organized a professional meeting this Wednesday in Madrid in which the rise of government communication and defense services was addressed, addressing innovations and new technologies applied on a global stage.

This day has had the collaboration of SES (through LuxGovSat, the company in which it has a 50% stake with the Government of Luxembourg), the Spanish HisdeSAT and the Madrid Aerospace and Luxembourg Space clusters.

The opening of the event was carried out by Augusto de Castañeda, vice president of the Madrid Chamber of Commerce and Jean Graff, ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in Spain.

De Castañeda thanked the presence of numerous professionals on this day and referred to Luxembourg as “a dynamic, open economy, with legal, social and economic security that makes it an ideal location for many companies.” He has also emphasized the role of this country in the development of new generation communications networks.

For his part, Jean Graff has assured that the aerospace sector, and especially the satellite sector, has seen an unprecedented takeoff in recent decades. “Now, the new services, called government, open up interesting perspectives,” he noted. Graff recalled the birth in Luxembourg three decades ago of SES, a company that has today become a leading global benchmark in the sector.

With more than fifty units in orbit, SES has just announced the launch of a new satellite at the end of 2017 that will be dedicated exclusively to government purposes. This initiative, jointly with the Luxembourg government, will have a planned investment of one hundred million euros.

Luxembourg, aerospace power

Lucien Hoffman, vice president of the Luxembourg Space Cluster, has analyzed the role of this country in the sector. Since the creation in 1985 of the Societé Europénne des Satellites (SES), whose first satellite was put into orbit in 1988, Luxembourg has always had a very active policy with respect to the space industry, participating in the different programs of the European Space Agency, actively collaborating with institutions such as CNES, DLR or BELSPO and employing more than 750 professionals from around thirty companies. The business volume of this industry has been estimated by Hoffman at around 2,000 million euros.

The Luxembourg Space Cluster brings together companies related to the entire value chain from the space segment to the services segment. Hoffman have highlighted the strong commitment of these companies to R&D&I, which has allowed them to develop advanced technologies in relation to structures, power supplies or propulsion systems, for example.

Madrid Aerospace Cluster

On behalf of the Madrid Aerospace Cluster, its general director, Eugenio Fontán, has commented that the Community brings together 90% of the aerospace industry in Spain. The aeronautical sector generates 7.8 billion euros and has more than 3,500 direct jobs throughout the country. In Madrid alone it represents 2.2% of the Community's GDP.

Madrid is home to two important space centers such as the ESA European Space Astronomy Center (ESAC) as well as the NASA Deep Space Monitoring Center.

According to Fontán, the cluster, born in 2006, seeks to create synergies between innovative companies, manage joint projects, as well as work hand in hand with universities and research centers and be a link with the Administration. It brings together 60 entities and companies (3.2% are public entities; 21% are large companies; 11% are universities and development centers; and 50% are small and medium-sized companies).

The director of the Madrid cluster has reviewed some of the national and European projects in which he actively collaborates, such as Space2ID or ACTTiVAte (in both cases the aim is to create new value chains in collaboration with other industries such as health, energy, agriculture or media).

Public-private initiative

Paul Wells, vice president of Government Satellite Communications (GovSAT), has analyzed the role that this joint initiative between the Luxembourg government and SES will play and which aims to develop an accessible and secure satellite infrastructure for government communications services for both defense and civil applications, offering X and Ka band capacity as well as teleport services. The first satellite, the result of this initiative, will be GovSAT-1 and will cover Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Eastern South America and some areas of Asia. It will operate from orbital position 21.5ºE and will be built by Orbital ATK, launching into space aboard a Space X Falcon 9 in the second quarter of 2017. Its useful life is estimated at 15 years.

The GovSAT model finds a precedent in the Spanish HisdeSAT. Its CEO Miguel Ángel Panduro has explained, for his part, the characteristics of this innovative and consolidated model in the field of government satellite services. The company was born in 2001 as an operator of satellite systems for government organizations in the areas of defense, security, natural disasters, intelligence and foreign affairs, mainly. Its model responds to a concept of a collaborative PPP (private-Public Partnership) corporate structure of public and private capital in which the Ministry of Defense participates through ISDEFE, Hispasat, Indra, Airbus, and SENER.

Among its main assets, the SpainSat (30W) and Xtar-EUR (29E) satellites stand out in communications, the latter in a joint venture with the American company Xtar. Both satellites cover two thirds of the planet, stressed the CEO of HisdeSAT.

On the other hand, in terms of Earth observation, HisdeSAT will manage the Paz (radar technology) and Ingenio (Optical) satellites thanks to an agreement with the Ministries of Defense and Industry. After the problems that arose with the Kosmotras launcher (derived from the conflict between its two shareholders, Russia and Ukraine), Panduro has finally announced that it hopes to launch the Paz in 2017 with the help of another company.

Another of HisdeSAT's challenges will be the launch of the next generation of communications satellites with the aim of responding to the requirements and needs of the Spanish State in defense and security. Along these lines, Panduro has shown the company's interest in cooperating with other countries in the international environment.