54 years since the Moon landing and the new Space Economy

Madrid, 20 July 2023 – On 16 July 1969, at 13:32 hours, the Saturn V rocket took off from Cape Canaveral (Florida, USA) with three astronauts on board and a single goal: to reach the Moon. Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on board the Eagle Module, while Collins kept the Columbia spacecraft in orbit. After being reunited, they returned to Earth and landed safely in the Pacific Ocean on 24 July, eight days after the start of the Apollo XI mission, in which Telefónica played a key role.

Today, 54 years after Neil Armstrong took “a small step for man, but a giant leap for mankind”, the so-called Space Economy is facing a revolution in order to deal with the digital “tsunami” in areas without coverage and the overflow of terrestrial networks: multiple developments and projects that point towards multi-orbital integration, where different solutions will coexist, which, in turn, are beginning to play a more relevant role in the telecommunications ecosystem, seeking to complement networks and reduce the digital divide.

The year was 1945, when Arthur C. Clarke, a mathematician and science fiction writer, had a vision of a global communications technology that could change the world: the satellite.

Clarke envisioned that, in the future, all communications on earth would be carried out by three satellites at a distance from the equator that would cause them to remain fixed in space. Years later, Russian and American engineers, using Clarke’s idea as a starting point, began to develop the first communications satellites at full speed in the famous “space race”. The first satellite to go into orbit was the Russian Sputnik in 1957, which was a communication test satellite, but the first commercial satellite was the Telstar-1 (1962), which pioneered the transmission of television signals through space.

Satellite technology gradually gained prominence and became the key (and only) form of communication for transoceanic communication for both voice and data services. In the late 1990s, satellite communication suffered a huge erosion due to the emergence of terrestrial and oceanic fibre optics for commercial communication.

“The last 5 years have seen a total paradigm shift, the space segment has evolved exponentially from traditional constellations to new flexible constellations adapted to the needs of each user.”

Rubén LOPEZ MOYA
Global Head of Presales

The satellite business for 2030: convergence between Earth and Space


Despite the above, satellite companies were able to adapt to the new reality and began to evolve the technology to another level in order to deliver communication services efficiently in places where fibre was too expensive.

The last 5 years have seen a total paradigm shift, the space segment has evolved exponentially from traditional constellations to new flexible constellations adapted to the needs of each user. The keys to the revolution are as follows:

• Launch Costs: The advent of reusable launchers (Space X, Blue Origins) has revolutionised launch costs, reducing them by half.
• Space Segment: Satellites in different orbits (GEO/MEO/LEO) that have an intelligent payload to adapt coverage footprints to demand and deliver high throughput of hundreds of Gbps.
• Satellites tailored to each type of application:
  • Broadband: VHTS or XHTS satellites delivering up to 1 Tbps capacity and constellations in MEO or LEO orbits with more than 50 Tbps per constellation, capable of delivering 200 Mbps per user and latencies close to fibre optic (MEO: <140 ms; LEO: <50 ms).
  • IoT: Specialised IoT satellites for Industry 4.0 development in maritime environments, farms, agricultural fields, industry.
  • Direct-to-Device: Satellites become a mobile radio base in space capable of communicating directly with mobile devices to provide 4G/5G voice and data communication.

Telefónica Global Solutions (TGS) has been providing value-added satellite solutions for years in more than 29 countries thanks to its global coverage with its own technology or through agreements with third parties.

TGS has accompanied satellite operators over the last few years in the development of their technological proposal through proofs of concept and global agreements. Thanks to this, we have positioned ourselves as a key player in the satellite ecosystem, supporting and stimulating the satellite industry in its growth. Our goal is to help break the digital divide and provide our customers with the most cutting-edge technology adapted to their needs, in the most cost-efficient way possible.

Rubén LOPEZ MOYA
Global Head of Presales