Greece launched an international tender for the construction of up to 5 earth observation microsatellites, worth 60 million euros.
The tender is part of the national satellite program, with a total budget of 130 million euros.
The revised satellite program has a lower budget than the initial one amounting to 200 million euros and a completely different orientation.
The goal of the Ministry of Digital Governance, which implements the National Small Satellite Program, is to strengthen Greece’s capabilities in space technologies and applications. This is an important project implemented through the European Space Agency (ESA) with funding from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan Greece 2.0.
In addition to the construction of the microsatellites, the revised program of the Ministry of Digital Governance includes the supply of satellite images and services, with a budget of 53 million euros (the relevant announcement is imminent) as well as the production of software (platform – general application for satellite services) worth 17 million euros (also its announcement is imminent).
The software must be created by a 100% Greek-owned company.
In the images, the participation of Greek entities will be at least 30% and if this is not possible, any foreign provider could create a co-production line in Greece.
These satellite programs usually allow the domestic industry of the country from where they originate to participate. And this is important for the Greek space industry as it will have the chance even with a smaller microsatellite development program to develop know-how which it will then use in other programs.
