# Focused investigations and evidence requirements

Prepared 30 October 2026. Status: ongoing research plan. Five source-linked motivation guides now explain users, needs, services, systems and enablers. Customer interviews, purchase validation and detailed economics remain open. The historical introduction is in `01-chronological-introduction.md`.

## Investigation sequence

1. **Communications:** remote fixed access; maritime and aviation connectivity; enterprise backup; government connectivity. Compare space with fibre, mobile networks and terrestrial radio where applicable.
2. **Observation:** weather-sensitive operations; agriculture and land; infrastructure monitoring; maritime awareness; public environmental monitoring. Compare satellite products with field measurements, aircraft, drones and existing information providers.
3. **Positioning and timing:** navigation; surveying and precision operations; infrastructure synchronisation; service resilience. Compare satellite inputs with local positioning, terrestrial timing and existing integrated systems.
4. **Security and sovereignty:** assured access; controlled communications; intelligence and situational awareness; infrastructure protection. Separate stated policy ambitions from funded procurement and accessible supplier work.
5. **Science and exploration:** instruments and mission support; research operations; transport and logistics; emerging in-space services. Separate agency contracts from demonstrated non-government demand.

These are starting categories to test, not validated market segments or opportunity claims. Several investigations may share the same customer or capability.

## Evidence record for each need

| Field | Required content |
|---|---|
| User and task | Specific role, decision or operation; frequency and consequences |
| Buyer and funder | Budget owner, purchasing organisation, source of funding |
| Current solution | Space and non-space alternatives; incumbent workflow |
| Pain evidence | Source, date, concrete incident or measured burden; distinguish customer evidence from supplier marketing |
| Purchase evidence | Contract, procurement, recurring spend or documented willingness to pay; mark absence explicitly |
| Technical | Required accuracy, latency, coverage or operating conditions; demonstrated versus proposed |
| Operational | Availability, support, deployment, repeatability, recovery and dependencies |
| Commercial | Adoption process, integration burden, retention and competing solutions |
| Economic | Full delivery cost, price evidence, capital needs and plausible margin; unknowns remain unknown |
| Geography | Customer locations, European/Belgian routes, partners and access restrictions |
| Direction | Operational capability, funded development or aspiration, with date |
| Open questions | Most consequential missing evidence and the next validation action |

## Completion gate before the website

- A coherent historical foundation and initial sector map.
- A source-linked investigation for each of the five motivations.
- Candidate pains with named customer groups, current workarounds, evidence, dependencies and unanswered questions.
- Explicit separation of technical, operational, commercial and economic conclusions.
- Belgium/Europe accessibility examined for promising candidates, with international comparisons where relevant.
- A coverage and uncertainty review; unsupported claims removed or labelled.

The original plan placed the website after the research. On 30 October 2026, the website was requested earlier to present the collected foundation and distinguish it from the planned investigations.