- Date: 7 November at 10:00 – 11:30 CET
- Attendance: ESA Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems Member State entities
INTRODUCTION
A shifting geostrategic context
With the increasing digitalisation of all human activities, there is a growing need for secure and resilient connectivity, especially when it serves governmental users and supports critical sectors and applications essential to our society, the economy and security.
The changing geostrategic context has heightened the need for ESA Member States to rely on solutions and infrastructures that meet government-defined requirements. These solutions must ensure continuous availability, even during crises, to safeguard member states resilience and sovereignty. To achieve this, it is essential to deploy solutions that are designed, manufactured, and operated in Europe or Canada, by companies eligible to fulfil these activities. Europe faces intense international competition in this field, making collaboration between public and private sectors even more crucial. In addition to sustaining a healthy, competitive and diverse European supply chain, reaching this strategic goal may require an effective sharing of risks, responsibilities and costs, through partnerships between private and public sides tailored to the environment of each specific mission.
Space Systems for Safety and Security (4S) programme objectives for ESA Council at Ministerial level 2025 (CM25)
The European Space Agency's Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) Space Systems for Safety and Security (4S) programme was created in 2019 to contribute to this strategic goal. For instance: preparatory activities for the EU IRIS2 programme, and the establishment of a tight partnership between the EU and ESA for its implementation.
As we look ahead to the ESA Council held at Ministerial level in November 2025 (CM25), which will set ESA funding for the next three years, 4S focus will be on the development, validation and deployment of new resilient and secure satcom infrastructure delivering safety of life communications and surveillance services for Air Traffic Management and maritime safety and surveillance. The ESA objective is to have the appropriate solutions developed and validated in-orbit by 2028, with end-users testing services in a pre-operational configuration by 2030. Full deployment and operation will take place no later than the early years of the next decade.
It is expected by ESA that these infrastructures will be designed, developed and validated by private companies or consortia, with support from ESA Member States through ARTES 4S.
In the short term, it is urgent for these companies and consortia to consolidate their plans and be ready to request support from ESA MS at the upcoming CM25, to develop and validate their in-orbit solutions by 2028. Support for this preparatory phase can be requested through the open ARTES 4S call Funding Opportunity: Support to Private Initiatives for End-to-End Satcom Solutions with Security, Safety and/or Sovereignty Requirements.
WEBINAR
The webinar provided key insights on the above opportunities and their time window. It presented the currently active funding call Funding Opportunity: Support to Private Initiatives for End-to-End Satcom Solutions with Security, Safety and/or Sovereignty Requirements, which is aimed at supporting Industry in preparing future development or deployment of the next 4S missions.
The presentation from the webinar can be downloaded below.