USG underpinning for satellite remote sensing industry?

A striking thing in the report is the worry that present US satellite
imagery providers might not be able to stay in business without
government support as we get into the next decade.


p.26: "The inherent risk in this business case is whether the CDPs are
viable in the mid-term (2012) without U.S. government support given
projected global market
changes."

p.29: " Two issues hinder the adoption of Business Case 2: (1) The
business viability of the CDPs beyond 2010, given economic projections
that the global imagery market will reach saturation as more foreign-
own capabilities come on line. The CDPs acknowledge these challenges
and argue that their acquisition of airborne platforms expands their
business viability. They also argue that moving into the imagery
products market will, at a minimum, lead to retaining their current
market size. Independent economic and business forecasts are less
optimistic. They argue that further industry consolidation will occur
as the market becomes more product saturated, noting that probably by
2010 probably only one CDP will be in business."

And, relevant to those "foreign-own capabilities",

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http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/gener.../ASTR03068.xml

Astrium Eyes Raising Stakes in SpotImage, Hisdesat
Mar 6, 2008
By Michael A. Taverna

Astrium Services is looking to up its stakes in geospatial information
provider SpotImage and milsatcom operator Hisdesat as part of a plan
to meld its space-based milsatcom, remote sensing and navigation
capabilities into a family of integrated satellite services.

The EADS unit already is a global leader in military satellite
communications and a pioneer in providing milsatcom capabilities on a
service contract basis. A British affiliate, Paradigm, is supplying
UHF and X-band milsatcom services to the U.K. under the 3.6 billion
pound ($7.4 billion) 20-year Skynet 5 program, and seeking to
establish a beachhead in the lucrative U.S. government telecom market.

Astrium also is building turnkey secure milsatcom systems for Germany,
in partnership with SES affiliate ND Satcom, and the United Arab
Emirates, under a $1.6 billion teaming arrangement with Thales Alenia
Space.

The company also is a force in the remote sensing market, through
Infoterra, a wholly owned radar imaging affiliate and a 40 percent
stake in optical imaging specialist SpotImage. In addition, it was
part of the consortium that was bidding to deploy and operate Europe's
Galileo satellite navigation system, and will certainly be part of the
new team when the operations tender comes up again later in the
decade.

The aim now, CEO Eric Beranger says, is to leverage these capabilities
into a one-stop shop for satellite services. The move would be similar
to the approach Iridium is taking with its Next constellation.

An initial step could be to combine radar and optical imaging products
into integrated geospatial information services. To facilitate this,
Beranger hopes to nail down the purchase of the 41 percent holding in
SpotImage owned by French space agency CNES so it would be in a better
position to do so. CNES Director General Yannick d'Escatha says he
wants to strike a deal this year, although Beranger admits "there is
still lots of work to do."

Once this is done, Astrium hopes to come to an agreement with the
French government for a successor to the Spot 5 satellite, launched in
2002. Although the continued good health of Spot 2 and 4 indicate Spot
5 is likely to remain operational for some time, Beranger considers it
urgent to line up a replacement to ensure the continuity of medium-
resolution (1-3 meter) imagery, which represents the bulk of
SpotImage's business.

Astrium last year completed Phase A preliminary definition for the new
spacecraft and would be willing to help fund it, provided it can land
a significant pre-sales agreement, Beranger says. He notes that
President Nicolas Sarkozy has come down squarely in favor of public-
private funding initiatives, and that a tax proposal currently before
the French parliament would smooth their implementation.

In January, InfoTerra began marketing radar imagery on its new
TerraSAR-X satellite, for which it has exclusive commercial imaging
rights under a public-private partnership deal with German aerospace
center DLR. A second satellite, Tandem-X, will provide backup and a 3D
stereo imaging capability when it is launched in 2009. SpotImage has
exclusive commercial rights to a pair of submetric imaging satellites,
Pleiades 1 and 2, which are to enter operation in 2010-11.

[snip]