Telespazio Ibérica, the Spanish subsidiary of the Italian space technology company Telespazio, has been awarded a €20 million contract to develop an Earth observation constellation for the Canary Islands.
In September 2025, the Tenerife Island Council, the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain, announced that it had approved the Canary Islands Satellite Constellation project. The constellation is part of the island’s broader “security and protection strategy” and will be used to assess the effects of climate change and to optimize the management of forest, agricultural, water, and urban resources. It will also be used to help prevent and respond to “emergency situations caused by natural and man-made hazards.”
According to the September 2025 announcement, the constellation would consist of eight satellites in low Earth orbit and would have a proposed budget of €21.3 million, with funding allocated over six years in the island’s 2026–2031 budgets. It also stated that the satellites would be “launched from the island,” despite the absence of any orbital launch infrastructure.
Aistech Space, Open Cosmos Canarias, and Telespazio Ibérica all submitted proposals to lead the development of the Canary Islands Satellite Constellation. The evaluation of the three bids was conducted by the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics.
On 19 February, Telespazio announced that its Spanish subsidiary, Telespazio Ibérica, had been awarded a €20 million contract to develop the Canary Islands Satellite Constellation. The company will be responsible for leading the project, building the ground segment, and managing the constellation. Despite the initial constellation proposal including eight satellites, Telespazio has been contracted to build just three operational satellites and one technology demonstrator, each with a mass of between 20 and 30 kilograms.
According to a Tenerife Island Council announcement, the contract awarded to Telespazio Ibérica covers the full €21.3 million budget and is projected to generate an economic return of around €18 million. A technology demonstrator is scheduled for launch in 2027, followed by three operational satellites in 2028. The announcement made no reference to launches taking place from Tenerife, despite the earlier proposals.
While the islands do not currently have launch capability, two distinct proposals to establish one have previously been explored. The first, proposed by Spain’s National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA), involved building a facility on the island of El Hierro. The second is a floating spaceport in the archipelago’s waters that has been examined in several studies. Neither proposal has progressed beyond the preliminary stage of development, and developing either into a functioning orbital launch site, potentially capable of supporting a vehicle such as PLD Space’s Miura 5, would likely require investment exceeding the constellation’s entire budget.
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