WASHINGTON — The European Commission and European Space Agency signed contracts with an industrial consortium Dec. 16 to develop a safe connectivity constellation with a complete price of 10.6 billion euros ($11.1 billion).
In a ceremony in Brussels, officers from the European Commission and ESA, together with the chief executives of Eutelsat, Hispasat and SES, signed contracts to develop the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS²) constellation of greater than 290 satellites slated to enter service by early 2031.
IRIS² will present safe communications for European governments for safety and civil purposes. It may even present industrial satellite tv for pc companies, akin to residential broadband.
At the signing ceremony, Andrius Kubilius, Commissioner for Defence and Space for the European Union, emphasised the necessity for Europe to have its personal constellation. “We are below menace. Our communications are below menace,” he mentioned, citing examples of undersea cables being lower and navigation alerts jammed by Russia. “IRIS² will give us the power to attach even in a hostile atmosphere.”
“We can’t afford to be too depending on nations or corporations from outdoors the European Union,” he added later in his remarks.
The constellation additionally helps Europe’s area business in a time when some key corporations are struggling to compete globally. “We are rising the resilience and autonomy of the Union and its states whereas additionally strengthening the satellite tv for pc communications capabilities and boosting the competitiveness of the European area business,” mentioned Josef Aschabacher, director basic of ESA, mentioned on the ceremony.
Under the contracts, the EU will contribute six billion euros to IRIS², of which two billion was funded within the present multiannual monetary framework (MFF) that runs by way of 2027. The different 4 billion euros of EU’s contribution will are available later MFF agreements by way of the 12-year IRIS² contracts that stretch to 2036.
ESA is offering 550 million euros that was allotted at its 2022 ministerial convention. The SpaceRISE consortium, led by Eutelsat, Hispasat and SES, will contribute 4.1 billion euros. An official mentioned in a background briefing that every SpaceRISE accomplice is contributing a minimal of 500 million euros.
That funding will go in the direction of the event and launch of satellites in three orbits. Eighteen satellites will function in medium Earth orbit (MEO) at an altitude of 8,000 kilometers, offering Ka-band companies. A “LEO High” shell at about 1,200 kilometers will embrace 264 satellites with Ku- and Ka-band companies. The system may even embrace 10 or extra satellites in a “LEO Low” shell between 400 and 750 kilometers supposed to assist incubation of future applied sciences.
The IRIS² constellation will interoperate with Govsatcom, an EU program to supply communications companies utilizing geostationary satellites operated by member states. Officials mentioned Govsatcom will start preliminary companies in 2025 utilizing extra capability on greater than 10 GEO satellites from 5 member states.
The MEO shell of satellites may very well be augmented by further industrial satellites by SES, whose O3b system operates in related orbits, whereas Eutelsat may add satellites to the LEO High shell. However, the present Eutelsat OneWeb constellation won’t be included in IRIS².
The subsequent step for IRIS² is a one-year design section that may even embrace “consolidation” of the availability chain of contractors for the satellites. A important design overview is deliberate for early 2028, with launch of the satellites projected to happen in 2029 and 2030. The constellation would require 13 Ariane 64 launches, 10 for the LEO High shell and three for the MEO shell. The handful of LEO Low satellites may very well be launched on different autos by way of the upcoming European Launcher Challenge.
The constellation now below improvement is a far cry from earlier proposals that projected a complete price of six billion euros and starting of companies in 2027. “We haven’t any time to lose. We are already late, my pals,” mentioned Timo Pesonen, director basic of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space, on the signing ceremony.
“Let’s agree now: no delays, no requests for further funding,” he mentioned, to laughter from the viewers.
