The European Space Agency’s (ESA) director general Josef Aschbacher has asked its 22-members to stump up an initial €750 million to fund a European low-Earth orbiting satellite constellation in order to secure broadband connectivity.

The proposal, which will be discussed officially at ESA’s ministerial conference later this year, would be part of a wider budget of government funding for a series of space proposals. The end-price for any broadband constellation would be much more than €750 million.

The EU has been examining a pair of studies for the Europe-wide broadband scheme.

A January 18th briefing from ESA officials delivered updates on a few stumbling blocks including whether the UK would take part in a number of space-related projects.

Key to future funding of a European satellite broadband initiative are the EC’s member states and their willingness to back a project. The EU, before Christmas, said they had asked a consortium to re-examine proposals for a European scheme.

Other posts by :

1. SES announces €0.25c dividend
2. Russia “blinding and destroying” German satellites
3. Bank: AST, Starlink, Kuiper targeting $200bn market
4. Rivada: Is no news good news?
5. SES celebrates Intelsat acquisition
6. Pakistan halts broadband direct-from satellite
7. India stymies Starlink launch
8. Starlink, AST SpaceMobile race for cellular consumers
9. Trouble ahoy for foreign D2D satellites over India?

Categories: Articles, Broadband, Satellite

Tags: ESA, European Space Agency, LEO, satellite, UK