Space technology plays an ever growing role in the defense field. Today, more and more commercial companies are active in the market, including Finnish company ReOrbit that provides secure, laser-based communications between satellites. Could space technology be a strategic stepping stone for new NATO members?
This article is a summary of Unikie’s 15-minute technology podcast. In this episode, we talk to Ville Meskus, ReOrbit’s defense business director.
While space has been an important part of the defense sector for decades, its importance was underlined when NATO formally recognized space as an operational domain alongside air, land, maritime and cyber in 2019.
In recent years, the private sector has quickly increased its capabilities for space operations, perhaps most famously by Space X with its rocket fleets. Today, sending payloads into orbit has become massively cheaper.
With a growing number of commercial companies, the public and private sectors are finding more and more synergies and opportunities for cooperation.
Fast and Secure Space Communication
One of the companies working with space technology is Finland-based ReOrbit. Essentially, ReOrbit’s technology provides laser-based communication between satellites at various orbits.
“The combination of different technologies – such as satellite cameras and data communications – opens up new and exciting possibilities,” says Ville Meskus, ReOrbit’s defense business director.
Let’s say you have satellite imagery that you want ground-based users to have access to as quickly as possible – but also securely. Instead of waiting 90 minutes for the satellite to reach your ground station or using third-party ground stations to convey the data, ReOrbit’s technology allows you to send the data to a higher-orbit satellite via laser and then transfer the data from that satellite to your own ground station.
“Data is always a snapshot in time, and the faster you get that snapshot to its users, the more valuable it is. However, in defense context, data security is a critical link in the chain,” Meskus continues.
Reliable and resilient communications are a critical cornerstone in NATO’s Multi-Domain Operations model, where both NATO military branches and the civilian society work together.
Paradigm Shift In Space Technology
According to Ville Meskus, there’s an ongoing paradigm shift in space technology. The shift resembles the change in automotive, where software has taken a much greater role in vehicles. Now the change is happening in space, too, where the focus goes from satellites (hardware) to the logic for which they are used (software).
“When the architecture is software-driven and more flexible, we have a lot more possibilities to develop various products to more specific use cases,” says Meskus.
Opportunity For New NATO Countries?
Finland and Sweden, both new NATO members, have their own strengths in space technology. According to Meskus, Finland leads in the private sector, while Sweden has focused efforts on developing capabilities in the defense sector.
Instead of racing against each other, the countries could learn from each other – and benefit the entire NATO alliance.
“Now that NATO is figuring out what new members could bring to the table, SATCOM capabilities are one possibility. While building our own capabilities and increasing our resilience, we could serve the needs of the wider alliance.”
According to Meskus, individual countries are in the long term better off building sovereign assets, such as satellites, to retain the most critical capabilities close at home.
Watch the full podcast with English subtitles below.
Read more about Unikie’s expertise for Defence & Security
