It’s been several months since we’ve heard movement regarding the futureGEO project, but events scheduled in 2026 appear to be keeping the geostationary satellite project top of mind among the amateur radio community.
A presentation by AMSAT President Drew Glasbrenner (KO4MA) at HamCation 2026 spoke to the value a project like futureGEO could bring to the Americas along with his desire to see such a project succeed. Glasbrenner touched on the financial requirements of a GEO satellite project while at the same time recognized organizations such as ARDC that have publicly expressed a desire to help fund a GEO satellite project. The roughly 6 minute segment can be viewed on YouTube.
At AMSAT-DL’s Bochum Space Day in March, Frank Zeppenfeldt (PD0AP) of the European Space Agency (ESA) is scheduled to give a presentation focused on futureGEO. Details are unknown, but it could mirror similar lectures given by Zeppenfeldt in the past.
The same AMSAT-DL post about Bochum Space Day happened to communicate a futureGEO community workshop to be scheduled as part of HAM RADIO 2026. This workshop will be tapping into GEO satellite QO-100 users to help provide direction for futureGEO.
A futureGEO community workshop will take place at HAM RADIO 2026 in Friedrichshafen, to which all QO-100 users are cordially invited. This event offers ideal preparation for the QO100 user meeting on the same evening. At the same time, we want to use the expertise of all participants to successfully further develop the futureGEO project on behalf of ESA.
Source: Amateur Radio Daily