Partnership

ESA Partnership Projects allow European industry to maintain and continue developing their competitiveness on the worldwide commercial market and enable greater risk sharing, where ESA bears the risks related to the development of innovative solutions and the partner assumes the commercial risks to respond to market needs.

Investing in space improves life on Earth by creating high-value jobs in the space industry and fostering new innovations, while boosting commercialisation for a green and digital Europe.

Satellite communications is the economic engine of the space industry, accounting for two thirds of overall space industry revenue.

The market changes rapidly. In response, ESA is helping to develop satellites that can be completely repurposed while in space during their 15-year lifespans through its partnership programme.

Such flexible satellites are set to play their part in the digital transformation of the economy. They will enable satellite operators to adapt quickly to the changing needs of their customers – public or private – in data and mobile services. In addition, they allow people in government to respond rapidly to enable public protection and disaster recovery, as well as offering secure control using the latest encryption technology.

The Eutelsat Quantum satellite developed in an ESA Partnership Project with manufacturer Airbus and operator Eutelsat is the first commercial satellite capable of being completely reprogrammed after launch.

It is a software-defined satellite, offering unprecedented in-orbit reconfigurability in coverage, frequency and power, which allows for complete mission rehauls including changes in orbital position.

The satellite was mainly built in the UK. Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd developed the brand new platform and Airbus developed the flexible payload. The ESA Partnership Project was supported by the UK Space Agency and other ESA member states. A dedicated ESA project team was set up to manage the project in the European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications, based at Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire.