The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected German company Tesat to develop and build its first 6G satellite precursor. Tesat will join a consortium of five other institutions, and one confirmed supplier.
The 6G laboratory in orbit (called 6G LINO) will produce a 16U CubeSat – a small satellite with specific dimensions – and bring it to a low earth orbit. The device should be similar in size to a small refrigerator, according to Tesat.
The selection process started in April last year, but the winner was quietly announced in July 2024.
Another goal is to gain knowledge on end-to-end connectivity and the inclusion of satellites in terrestrial mobile networks. ESA and the consortium expect that the result will bring valuable information for the 6G standardisation.
“ESA is delighted to support this extremely important project, which will help pave the way for the future of satellite communication technology and with the aim to bring value to Europe’s 6G roadmap,” Antonio Franchi, Head of ESA’s Space for 5G/6G & Sustainable Connectivity programme line, said in a joint press release.
Besides Tesat, the following institutions have joined the consortium:
- Open Cosmos (UK)
- Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS (Germany)
- University of Surrey (UK),
- Airbus Defence and Space Friedrichshafen (Germany)
- Deutsche Telekom Business Solutions (Germany)
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland will provide the RF-payload-part as a supplier. It is planned to include Satellite Applications Catapult (UK) at a later stage to support with a second ground infrastructure.
“6G LINO offers a great opportunity to test processor technologies, algorithms and AI methods of potential 5G/6G use cases,” said Dr. Walther Pelzer, Director General of the German Space Agency, who coordinates the German Budget to ESA on behalf of the German Government.
“This will help to establish satellites as a ubiquitous connectivity solution integrated into terrestrial infrastructures,” he concluded.
Featured image courtesy of ESA/Philippe Sebirot
