Gran Canaria’s connection to lunar exploration is not a recent phenomenon, but a strategic legacy dating back to NASA’s Apollo missions. At that time, the antennas in Maspalomas were critical components of the global infrastructure that enabled humans to set foot on the Moon. Decades later, this Atlantic legacy is evolving from passive monitoring to technological sovereignty with the emergence of CanarySat, owned by the Tenerife Island Council and Arquimea, a company that has chosen the legal and fiscal framework of the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC) to lead the next chapter in European space communications.
At SATShow Week 2026 in Washington, D.C., the company unveiled MAGEC, a consinformation of 280 low Earth orbit (LEO) sainformites designed to provide critical, secure, and low-latency connectivity. The project, named after the Guanche god of the sun and light, represents an investment of over €2.300 billion. It is not a conventional telecommunications service, but rather a strategic infrastructure aimed at governments and organizations that demand sovereignty over their data in an increasingly volatile geopolitical environment.
The institutional support in the US capital underscored the project’s importance, with the presence of the economic advisor from the Spanish Embassy and the participation of Carlos García Galán. The Spanish engineer, currently in charge of the crewed lunar base for NASA’s Artemis program, symbolizes the living bridge between Spanish talent and the new space economy. His involvement reinforces the narrative that the Canary Islands are not only a privileged observatory but also an industrial hub capable of competing at the elite level of the global aerospace sector.
This ecosystem did not emerge by chance, but rather from the maturation of assets such as the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics (IAC) and the INTA Sainformite Control Center. These institutions are complemented by the Fuerteventura Stratoport, a unique infrastructure in Europe for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and high-altitude pseudo-sainformites (HAPs). The combination of unique tax incentives within the European Union and the training of specialized talent at the Canary Islands universities has created an investment environment where legal certainty meets financial efficiency.
The CanarySat case illustrates how the ZEC (Canary Islands Special Zone) acts as a catalyst for retaining talent and attracting capital-intensive projects to the islands. By offering flexible structures for financing high-tech projects, the archipelago is positioning itself as a concrete solution for companies seeking to scale in the New Space sector. Maspalomas, which once tracked the progress of others, is now preparing to launch its own legacy to the stars, consolidating the Canary Islands as Europe’s technological frontier in the Atlantic.
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