The leading companies in the aerospace and telecommunications sectors in Europe they have allied for bid for project planning and deployment iris2 of creation of a satellite constellation for the European Union. The project is endowed with 6,000 million euros, and its purpose is the deployment of satellites to improve Internet connectivity in the area. It will also serve to give the EU a boost, so that its satellite deployment plans do not lag behind those of other countries and regions.
The group of companies that will submit to the EU offer to develop the Iris2 project is led by the manufacturers of aerospace equipment Airbus SE and Thales Alenia Space SAS, as well as the satellite operators Eutelsat Communications SA, SES SA and Hispasat SA. In addition, the group will work with various telecommunications and technology companies, including Deutsche Telekom, Orange, OHB, Hisdesat Servicios Estratégicos, Telespazio and Thales.
If they win the contract, the members of the group will have to deploy and operate a system made up of hundreds of satellites arranged in various orbits, with a distance from Earth to the closest ones of just over 35,400 kilometers, those established by the traditional geostationary route. . Iris2, which stands for Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite 2, will offer access to government agencies, including various defense departments, and to companies. In addition, it will be deployed to connect areas of the European Union that do not have Internet.
According to the European Union, the constellation will be in charge of offering critical infrastructure, as well as reinforcing the technological sovereignty of the region, while other countries and private companies deploy their own systems. If all goes well, the Iris2 project satellites will begin service next year, and will achieve full capacity by 2027.
The EU will contribute to the general costs of the project with 2,400 million of euros. Another 685 million euros will come from the European Space Agencywhile the rest will come from private sector entities.
Currently, the largest operator of low-Earth orbit satellites is Elon Musk, who already has several thousand Starlink satellites in orbit. These fleets of Low Earth Orbit satellites are less than 1,000 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, and offer faster connection speeds than other systems, but they need many more satellites to cover the same space as higher-altitude satellites. . Other companies that are supporting the launch of satellites are Amazon and OneWeb.
