EU Funds €12.3 Million for Tenerife Satellite Control Center and Teleport

The European Commission is giving the Technological and Renewable Energy Institute (ITER) in Tenerife, along with the company CanarySat (part of the Arquimea Group), 12,333,000 euros. This funding will help them build a satellite tracking control center and a teleport. The entire project will cost over 18 million euros.

Juan José Martínez, the Innovation Councilor for the Island Council, said this funding from the EU's Connecting Europe Facility shows strong support for developing the aerospace industry on the island.

Once fully up and running, the project is expected to create about a hundred direct jobs. It will allow various satellite communication and optical networks to use the new facilities, opening up more opportunities for Tenerife's aerospace sector. Martínez added that this project, combined with new submarine cables that will improve connectivity, will position Tenerife as a major hub for communication.

While the exact location for the control center hasn't been decided yet, sources suggest it will be in the southern part of the island. They are looking for a site of at least one hectare (10,000 square meters).

Arquimea is leading the creation of CanarySat, which will include a satellite control center at ITER and a teleport to connect with Canalink, a communications provider. This teleport is a key part of the CanarySat project, initiated by the Spanish tech company which has a strong presence in the Canary Islands.

The island's president, Rosa Dávila, praised the "definitive support for our commitment to the aerospace sector." She noted that only two other Spanish entities received funding in this call, which is meant for projects involving fiber optic cables, 5G, and satellite connections across Europe. These were Madrid City Council for a 5G project and Aena. This initiative fits into the growing aerospace ecosystem on the island, which also includes plans for a satellite constellation using technology from the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics, also promoted by the Island Council.

The project will involve developing and operating a teleport, a Satellite Operations Center (SOC), and a Network Operations Center (NOC) on the island. This infrastructure aims to offer global satellite connectivity services to and from the Canary Islands. It will also boost Europe's ability to access a wide range of satellite telecommunications networks and facilitate data exchange with existing submarine cable systems.

The teleport, which uses large satellite dishes to connect satellites with ground networks, will provide services to various satellite operators. Tenerife's location is ideal for this, serving as a main data link for communication and Earth observation satellites in Europe and West Africa. This strategic position will reduce communication delays and speed up access to satellite imagery, making satellite data more useful and readily available.

The teleport will also connect to existing infrastructure, such as submarine cables linking Europe and Africa, and advanced computing resources like the HPC system at ITER. This means the teleport can offer more than just antenna and control services; it can provide high-speed connections to Europe and Africa, along with data processing and storage solutions.

Besides creating around a hundred direct jobs, the project will supply satellite communication antennas and related services that can be used by the CanarySat constellation and other satellite networks.

CanarySat is a Canary Islands-based company that will manage its own fleet of 66 telecommunications satellites and offer services to other satellite operators worldwide. The total budget for this part of the project is 300 million euros. CanarySat will be compatible with other satellite networks, such as BeetleSat and the European Commission's planned IRIS² constellation, set to launch in 2027.