Date: April 29, 2021
Category: News
Autor: Ewelina Kaatz-Drzeżdżon
On 28 April 2021, the European Parliament adopted Space Regulation, which is expected to support an ambitious space strategy for Europe. The Space Programme 2021-2021 opens the door to new EU space activities aimed at providing safe and guaranteed satellite communications to EU agencies and institutions and Member States. Space-based secure connectivity will be developed through a new programme component – GOVSATCOM, which will strengthen Union’s autonomy and security, as well as its economical resilience.
GOVSATCOM will be based on the following principles: strong security, aggregation of demand, reliance on national and commercial suppliers, civil-military synergies and a modular service-centred approach. It will provide a common Union pool of satellite communication capacities and services, and user equipment, which will be shared and prioritised between GOVSATCOM participants. GOVSATCOM services will be used in the areas of crisis management, border management, support to maritime or military specific operations, and support to the management of key infrastructures.
The Space Programme 2021-2021 provides an overall framework for GOVSATCOM, while organisational and technical considerations will be specified in implementing acts regarding operational requirements, service portfolio, sharing and prioritisation, location of the GOVSATCOM hubs, and securing requirements. As GOVSATCOM is a user-centric programme, targeted consultations with GOVSATCOM users will play a fundamental role in designing service portfolio that meets user needs and expectations.
Major consultation with prospective users of GOVSATCOM services commenced in mid April. A European-wide survey aimed at identifying user needs for future GOVSATCOM services is carried out by EU Member States and EU agencies within the ENTRUSTED project. A survey, coordinated by the EU Satellite Centre, will assess the current and evolving needs of prospective GOVSATCOM users, as well as their use of existing secure SatCom capabilities. Information obtained from respondents will be used for deriving a set of prioritised user requirements and identifying relevant use cases. User requirements will be considered in the implementing regulations for GOVSATCOM, and will eventually inform subsequent development activities.
Read more about the survey study here.