(ORDO NEWS) — The European Union is going to create its own analogue of Starlink and has even presented a plan for a satellite constellation in low Earth orbit. So far, everything is very similar to the project from Elon Musk.
Why does the European Union need its own satellite Internet
The goal of the project is to provide the whole of Europe with a high-quality Internet connection, including the regions constituting the “strategic interests” of the union (the regions of the Arctic and Africa). It is already planned to allocate 6.8 billion dollars for the implementation of the plan.
Part of the money will be allocated by the European Commission, the rest will come from private companies and member countries of the Union and partners in the European Space Agency (ESA).
According to Thierry Breton , EU commissioner for the internal market , Europe is obliged to build an independent satellite Internet within a few years.
In an interview with the French television channel BFM, he said that space is beginning to play an increasingly important role in people‘s daily lives, as well as in the economic growth, security and geopolitical influence of countries around the world.
The European Commission does not want to play the role of catching up against the background of these changes, therefore it intends to actively invest in promising space projects.
This is of paramount importance in terms of our strategic and technological sovereignty,
” Breton added.
What is known about the technical side of the project
One of the key projects of this type will be a so far unnamed network of Internet satellites. The technical side of the issue is not disclosed now, but it is already known that the new constellation of spacecraft will rely on previously launched satellites.
When the announced system is implemented, Europe will receive a third space network that will complement Galileo and Copernicus.
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