Airbus is developing a ‘Pacis-5’ demonstrator under ESA’s Govsatcom Precursor programme. Pacis-5 kicked-off in June 2017 and will run for two years.

ESA has awarded a contract to Inmarsat, the world’s leading provider of global, mobile satellite communications (satcom), as the prime contractor for the new “Pacis-6” Govsatcom Precursor project under ESA’s ARTES programme.

On 21 November 2017, ESA and an SES-led European consortium agreed to join forces to set up a new platform that will make secure and affordable satcoms available to public users, as part of a Europe-wide push to help governments get the most out of existing systems and services.

On 21 June 2017, at the airshow in Le Bourget, France, ESA unveiled two new satcom initiatives, Govsatcom Precursor and Satellites for 5G.

12 April 2016 – At an event held on 5 April at ESA Headquarters in Paris, more than eighty high-level representatives from the European space industry and government discussed project proposals for the ESA Govsatcom Precursor programme.

UPDATE: The deadline for submitting a Notification of Intent has been extended until 23 March 2016 12:00pm.
26 February 2016 – Over the past two years both the European Council and the EU Competitiveness Council have called for the preparation of the next generation of governmental satellite communications, through close cooperation among Member States, EDA, the EC and ESA.