Alén Space joins 10 companies to promote the ANSGAL project
May 12, 2021
The consortium led by Egatel and 10 other entities from the technological sector and academia, including Alén Space, has presented an expression of interest to the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism to promote the ANSGAL (A New Space for Galicia) project, whose final goal is the development of the space industry in Spain, focused on Galicia.
The proposal is part of the Program to Promote Industrial Competitiveness and Sustainability Tractor Projects, within the Spanish Government’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan for the distribution of European funds. ANSGAL contemplates to provide comprehensive high-tech and value-added communication services to public and private clients from different sectors at the national and international level through multi-orbit satellites.
The ANSAL project considers the need to create an industrial pole that covers all activities and is in a position to provide services in certain strategic sectors such as maritime, agri-food, telecommunications and security from its first phase.
In the first stage, it is proposed to develop the following tractor projects:
- The Sayari constellation, which will involve the deployment of a small satellite network defined by software.
- The design, development, and manufacture of terrestrial communication terminals with satellites (LEO, MEO and GEO) that include satellite flat antennas with capacity to self-pointing and fully electronic and automatic monitoring.
- The design and manufacture of a space vehicle that allows the deployment of small satellites in their corresponding orbits with efficiency and reliability.
- The design, development, and commissioning of an integrated 5G satellite-terrestrial communications network that enables research, development and experimentation of new solutions and use cases.
- The promotion of quantum communications technologies in space.
- The digitalisation of the maritime sector (shipyards, extractive fishing, and aquaculture, recreational boating, renewable marine energies, the port sector and the maritime traffic), through the development of products and services based on a hybrid satellite-terrestrial platform VDES/5G with global reach.
- The digitalisation of the agri-food industry (livestock and agricultural farming, etc.) through providing IoT services and GEO satellite and the development of Artificial Intelligence tools that exploit the data generated to increase productivity and to optimise natural resources.
- The digitalisation of the critical communication system of the State security forces by offering advanced, secure, and robust communication systems.
The importance of this project proposal is not only about the economic development (it is calculated it will generate 7,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs with a carry-over effect in the three years following from the start of the program) and its contribution to the transformation of the productive model by promoting a high-tech industry which will employ highly qualified professionals, but also by improving social connectivity, especially in those areas where the digital gap limits social development.
The companies and organisations proposing the ANSGAL project have the capacity to cover basic research activities, to develop high-tech products, and to provide added value to the final client. The members of the consortium that have presented this proposal are: Egatel, Hispasat, Cellnex, Alén Space, UARX Space, Manufactura de Ingenios Tecnológicos, Imatia Innovation, Fundación Centro Tecnolóxico de Telecomunicacións de Galicia (Gradiant), University of Vigo, GII/UDC and Centro Tecnológico del Mar (CETMAR).