The company that wants to stand up to Elon Musk and create a new power in space consists of little more than a mailbox in Liechtenstein. It has no offices of its own, no employees, not even a website, and the balance sheet for 2019 shows equity of just under 25,000 Swiss francs. Fixed assets, tangible and financial assets – zero. Trion Space AG is a “micro company”; so their responsible persons have ticked it in the form for the registry court. It is all the more strange that she is pursuing gigantic plans.
The mailbox company, located with a trustee in the center of Vaduz, is a central part of an opaque network of companies with which German, but above all Chinese investors want to establish a huge space project in the middle of Europe. In the first phase, 288 satellites are to be launched into space; so many again later. There is talk of an investment volume equivalent to four billion euros, to start with. But there is great distrust of the project. Because the money and parts of the technology should come from state-controlled companies in China, traces lead to the country’s army. Experts fear that Beijing will establish a technological bridgehead in Europe and thus pursue hegemonic, if not military interests. An accusation that those involved in the project reject.
The 38,000 inhabitants of the Alpine Principality found out in the spring of the plans that had been going on behind the scenes since 2014. “Liechtenstein goes satellite”, it suddenly said in large advertisements, next to it was the globe around which a satellite orbits. Little by little it became clear that it was about communication satellites that are supposed to orbit the earth at an altitude of around 1000 kilometers, in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), as experts call the orbits there. Trion Space AG and its partner companies want to install a satellite-supported Internet system there, through which companies, in particular, can ideally communicate with the furthest corners of the earth in real time using huge amounts of data. Without terrestrial lines with nodes or interfaces, which supposedly makes data exchange more secure from eavesdropping. Industrial companies could use it to control their production facilities all over the world, and banks, transport companies or logisticians could communicate globally.
The technology of the future is not gaining momentum in Europe
There are just as little doubts among experts as to whether such satellite systems make technological sense or to their economic needs. Tesla founder Elon Musk is already pursuing such plans with his space company Space-X; The project is called “Starlink”. An Indo-British consortium and Canadian investors are also working on the future technology. In Europe, however, it has not yet gained momentum, which the responsible EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, who has been in office since December 2019, has declared to change.
The Liechtenstein project seems to come in handy. Even if the small state is not a member of the EU, it is geographically centrally located on the continent. As a sovereign state, the Principality is entitled to radio frequencies, without which such a satellite fleet cannot function. These are awarded by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) based in Geneva, the United Nations organization specializing in telecommunications. Such radio frequencies are scarce and accordingly in great demand. Liechtenstein had not yet called up its quota, which is why at least the provisional allocation was not a problem when the Vaduz Office for Communication (AfK) presented to the ITU in 2014.
The authority, in turn, had received a corresponding application from a predecessor company of Trion Space. The country, which is characterized by finance and industry, is in principle open to the satellite idea. “It is hoped that this will also be a huge step forward in terms of digitization,” says an insider in Vaduz. In the specific case, however, “doubts soon arose as to whether the initiators could manage the project technologically and financially.” In the beginning you mainly had to deal with German participants, for example eightyLEO, which is based in Grünwald near Munich, but above all with its offshoot Kleo Connect GmbH. The latter joined the project as an operational partner and founded a subsidiary in Liechtenstein, Kleo AG. It is to set up the control center for the satellites there, while Trio Space appears as the applicant for frequencies and wants to manage any usage rights in the future.
What was missing from the start was the necessary capital. When looking for investors for the Liechtenstein sky storm, its initiators found what they were looking for in China in 2018. So financiers mainly from Shanghai got on board. They took over majorities in participating companies such as Kleo Connect and positioned their people in key positions, for example on the board of Trio Space AG. Little by little, a barely transparent network of companies emerged. The alleged main financier is the state-controlled Shanghai Alliance Investment (SAIL). It has a 42 percent stake in Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSSI), which is to build the necessary satellites and book the launch vehicles required for their transport into space.
“The satellite project is for civil use and communication only.”
A company called SECM is behind the SSSI. According to a spokesman, the company will act as a satellite partner. There seems to be close ties between the SECM and the Chinese army. “More than a dozen of the top researchers at the SECM have worked in the official space program, which is run by the military, received grants for military and defense research or even have a military background,” found the Vaduzer Zeitung Economy regional out. The SECM is an “important part of the military-civil merger”. Your boss and his deputy come from a Chinese army university and have worked on military research programs in the field of aerospace, the paper continues.
Those involved reject the suspicion that a Chinese bridgehead with a military background is about to emerge in the middle of Europe. “The satellite project is only for civil use and communication,” said a spokesman for the SSSI on request. “Military use is completely excluded and legally prohibited according to the rules of the ITU, which allocates and monitors the frequencies.” However, he could not give details “for legal reasons”. The German Kleo connect GmbH left a SZ request unanswered. The Vaduz trustee, who manages Trion Space AG and also acts as its Chairman of the Board of Directors, concluded the opposite Economy regional “a covert or improper use” categorically. Incidentally, the State of Liechtenstein would be able to press a red button at any time and restrict or switch off the satellite system entirely, he said.
But you don’t want to let it get that far. Usually the principality is a very investor-friendly country. But Vaduz is far from waving the orbital project through. The relationship between the West and China has cooled down too much in recent years, it is said behind closed doors, and the fear in the Principality of being unintentionally harnessed to the cart of Chinese interests is too great. The opaque conditions on the part of the project operator do the rest. In the meantime, the German project participants are also squabbling with their Chinese partners. The responsible office for communication in Liechtenstein does not want to issue an opinion with reference to the “ongoing procedure”. As the applicant, Trion Space AG requires a well-founded business plan. Authority and project operator are now also arguing before the administrative court.
The Astronomical Working Group has already positioned itself clearly in the Principality. The voluntary hobby stargazers warn against the project, they fear “enormous costs and huge damage to Liechtenstein’s image”. And besides, too much space junk is already flying around in Low Earth Orbit.