The European Union reactivates its plans to launch a constellation of 280 satellites that provides access to Internet insurance for governments and public organizations. This Tuesday, the European Commission has awarded the necessary contracts for the development of this initiative that aims to stand up to rapidly growing commercial services such as Stalinkof Elon Musk.
After years of delays and cost overruns, the communications system IRIS² Its mission is to guarantee fast and encrypted access to the broadband network in remote places that cannot be reached by the fiber opticbenefiting both intelligence agencies and ordinary citizens. It is expected to cost 10.6 billion euros and will be fully deployed in 2030.
“In an increasingly complex geopolitical world, it is essential to ensure resilient, secure and fast government communications,” explained Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Space Agencyin a statement. The organization, made up of 22 countries, will be in charge of managing this new strategic infrastructure.
The third major space project of the UE follows in the wake of two pioneering initiatives: the Galileo navigation system, something like the GPS European, and Copernicus, the observation network that allows tracking the Earth to mitigate the effects of climate change.
International competition
IRIS² has been affected by tensions between countries. Germany, the largest investor in the European Space Agency, has expressed concern about a possible cost overrun. The French Airbus and the Franco-Italian Thales Alenia Spacetwo of the main European satellite manufacturers, have withdrawn from the SpaceRise consortium for fear that the project will lead to financial losses, although they will participate as suppliers.
Even so, the announcement of Brussels It is understood as a bid for Europe’s so-called “digital sovereignty” after EU manufacturers have experienced difficulties competing with Starlink, the increasingly influential system developed by SpaceXwhich already controls almost two thirds of the satellites in orbit, but also to the proliferation of other satellite Internet networks such as Kuiper, from Amazon.
