Capability C08
Ground stations and communication infrastructure
Ground stations, control centres and terrestrial links serving European space systems.
⚑ Draft assessment — requires reviewConfidence: Low
Recommended approach
Build + Ally
Last reviewed 9 Nov 2026
Rationale (analytical judgement)
Keep critical ground segments under European control; use trusted partners for global coverage.
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Three main questions
- How critical?
- High — Ground segments are often the most exposed part of a space system.
- Pressure risk
- Medium — could an external provider use the dependency as political or economic pressure?
- Alternative in 24 months?
- Partially
Current position
- European capability
- Not yet assessed with sources.
- External dependencies
- Some ground stations may be located outside Europe or operated by non-European firms; not yet documented.
- Main external actors
- Not yet identified
Additional factors
Factors without a recorded assessment are shown as not yet assessed.
- Cost of developing European capacity
- Not yet assessed
- Time to operational readiness
- Not yet assessed
- Availability of trusted partners
- Ground stations in trusted partner countries may be acceptable; to be documented.
- Market concentration
- Not yet assessed
- Technological maturity
- Not yet assessed
- Impact on innovation and competitiveness
- Not yet assessed
- Security and resilience
- Not yet assessed
Recommendation history
Manual adjustments with their documented explanation.
No adjustments yet
The draft recommendation has not been changed.
Relevant KPIs
No kpis linked
No relationship recorded.
Related risks
- R4 Deterrence versus arms race
Ground segments are exposed to hostile actions.
⚑ Suggested link — not validated