Space Technology and Communications Said Key to Europe’s Digital Future
Space technology such as GPS is increasingly important in people’s daily lives and the space industry is one of Europe’s “great success stories,” said Jacqueline Foster, vice president of the European Parliament Sky & Space Intergroup, Tuesday at a Brussels conference on EU space policy. Despite Europe’s financial woes, EU lawmakers support a “robust space program,” she said. Satellite-enabled communications can play a key role in delivering very high-speed broadband and other goals of the digital agenda, but the industry must be taken more seriously in policy decisions, a representative from the commercial sector said.
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The economic crisis highlights the importance of the digital agenda, said Megan Richards, European Commission director of converged networks and services. The agenda sets several targets, including basic broadband for all by 2013 and 30 Mbps for half of all citizens by 2020, she said. Satellite plays an important role in meeting those goals and in the future will deliver even higher speeds, she said. It will have to complement broadband in areas where terrestrial services aren’t practical, she said. Many other counties already use satellite as part of the package for broadband and European nations should, too, she said. The EC will propose a way to enable regions interested in satellite applications to network on demand issues, Richards said.
Thirty million Europeans are not yet in the digital age, and the satellite sector is committed to delivering the services they need, said Jean-François Bureau, Eutelsat director of institutional and international affairs. Eutelsat has developed a powerful satellite to deliver high-speed Internet capability but it will be challenging to move from 5-10 Mbps to 30 Mbps, he said. In the telecom arena, satellite is not “the” solution but a part of it, he said.
Commercial satellite services have made a significant contribution to the space industry and other areas, said Philippe Glaesener, SES vice president and general manager-governments and institutions. Half of European homes with TVs now receive satellite services directly or indirectly and satellite communications provide essential broadband services, he said. To support growing institutional demands, SES and other commercial players are investing in infrastructure and expansion, with a major portion earmarked for European fleet operations and extension, he said. Operators want the commercial sector to be included as an integral part of EU policy planning, he said.
European space infrastructure is already in place but the challenge is to develop new applications and sustain them long-term, said Astrium Senior Vice President Strategy & Business Development Colin Paynter. Space data has long underpinned the databases of national geographical organizations but now the global reach of satellites can deliver real benefits to citizens, he said.
Satellite data is “absolutely vital,” said Volker Liebig, European Space Agency director of earth observation programs. The EU has already invested 3 billion euros ($4.1 billion) in the global monitoring for environment and security (GMES) program, he said. It’s a “unique project” that no one else in the world has, he said.
The telecom sector will be able to connect space data to every person to help speed decisions and make processes more efficient, said Jurry de la Mar, account director for T-Systems International, part of Deutsche Telekom. Space data should be available everywhere, at all times, he said. This isn’t a trivial task because the information must be easily extractable, in real time, he said.
Information and communication technologies companies are developing water management, water quality, deforestation and other monitoring services, de la Mar said. Such projects need powerful infrastructures and cloud computing may be key, he said. In the space sector, T-Systems is planning services to study geohazards around the world, among other things, he said. Cloud computing could make such service widespread in a short period of time, he said. One cloud innovator is developing a system to live-stream from a camera on the International Space Station, he said. GMES is very important to the development of new services, he said.
The EU must ensure that GMES and satellite navigation system Galileo launch on schedule, said Ian Shepherd of the EC maritime affairs and fisheries directorate general. It must also make sure that small and mid-sized companies, students, academics and others can access the data on a reasonable basis, he said. Galileo is Europe’s “insurance policy” for continuation of services if something happens to GPS, he said. GMES is also crucial, but if users have to pay for the data they won’t use it, he said.