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ESA, SES and Italian builders expand deep-space and Earth-observation communications capabilities—from quantum-secure ground lin

ESA has tapped Aalyria for a solar-system network-operations center and commissioned an optical ground station in Luxembourg aimed at ultra-secure, quantum-enabled satellite communications. SES will route station data via its O3b mPOWER network ahead of Starlab. Italy’s PRISMA Second Generation hyperspectral mission is moving toward a 2031 launch with Thales Alenia Space and OHB Italia.

Discovered 2026-07-29T01:03:39.775942-07:00 | 2026-07-29T01:03:39.775942-07:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

ESA is building the operational and ground-segment infrastructure for reliable, secure communications across long distances (Aalyria network-operations center; Luxembourg optical ground station for quantum-enabled ultra-secure links).
SES’s plan to route Starlab station data through the O3b mPOWER network before Starlab launches directly impacts how real-time payload and operations data will be relayed.
Italy’s next-generation PRISMA hyperspectral expansion—via Thales Alenia Space’s PRISMA Second Generation satellite work with OHB Italia and targeted launch in 2031—adds capacity to Europe’s space-based Earth observation baseline.

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