The European communication sat. industry is facing both the competition of terrestrial networks where techniques and technologies keep progressing at a sustained pace and the competition of non-European sat. & space products manufacturers around the world. New technologies are the true opportunities for the European sat. industry to improve and enhance its competitiveness and to create new applications and services for the benefits of citizens. In-Orbit Validation (IOV) & In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) are the best ways to explore, to evaluate and qualify new technologies and products. They are decisive milestones in the development of sat. technologies, products & services: they permit to assess the effectiveness of technical solutions to provide new applications and services and to promote them to final users.
As a Coordination & Support Action (CSA) within H2020 program, the GOTOFLY project has 3 objectives :
- identify a IOD/IOV portfolio of solutions & opportunities to support European space R&T&D. An IOD/IOV solutions & opportunity is the collection of a satellite communication application and service, the required new technologies and products and a IOD/IOV carrier and launch window.
- preliminary design several IOD/IOV missions suitable for the Horizon 2020 context in both technical & programmatic perspectives.
- raise awareness among the European satellite communication community of the existence of IOD/IOV solutions & opportunities.
The GOTOFLY project team includes 5 partners within 4 European countries (France, Italy, Spain & Belgium):
- The French (TASF), Italian (TASI) and Spanish (TASE) sites of Thales Alenia Space bring their expertise in different types of technologies, products & equipment. TASF is a major European satellites main contractor, owning a wide experience in both platforms & payloads for telecommunication sat.. TAS has a unique first-hand vision of the communication sat. market and of the needs of new technologies and products.
- Sea & Space Exploration (SSE) in Belgium brings its intensive knowledge of the communication sat. market and its experience in developing new services in the third world, together with its subsidiary ‘SatAdsl’.
- NovaNano in France has a top-level experience in nano-satellites, a well-fitted solution for IOV/IOD of small units.
The project is organized in 2 phases : the 1st phase is the constitution of the portfolio of solutions & opportunities, the 2nd phase is the technical & programmatic definition of 2 IOD/IOV missions. A Mid-Term Review (MTR) validates the choice of both missions. The project ran from January 8, 2015 to July 31, 2016.
