European Commission Awards Contract for IRIS² Satellite Constellation

What is IRIS²?

The Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite, more commonly referred to as IRIS², is a project by the European Union to create its own satellite infrastructure that isn’t beholden to any outside organizations. The EU is particularly keen on having its own communication infrastructure for defense purposes and other sensitive governmental functions.

Currently, European nations make use of commercial satellite systems like Starlink for these critical communications. Starlink has also been heavily relied upon in the ongoing war in Ukraine, though this hasn’t been without issues. The goal of IRIS² is to create a wholly EU-controlled system that can handle secure communications for militaries, embassies, and other government agencies while also offering secure communications for EU citizens and companies.

IRIS² is designed to be a multi-orbital constellation of 290 satellites that will consist of both medium-Earth orbit (MEO) and low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. It will make use of both 5G cellular technology and more traditional satellite connections to eliminate connectivity dead zones in rural areas, provide mobile internet connections for the transport sector, and provide connections in strategic areas outside of Europe, such as Africa and the Arctic.

A wholly European project

The European Commission, which oversees the IRIS² project, awarded the contract to build the satellite constellation to SpaceRISE, a consortium of three of Europe’s largest satellite operators—Eutelsat, Hispasat, and SES—and eight other satcom companies. The project will be carried out as a public-private partnership, with funding coming from the European Union, member states, the European Space Agency, and private sector companies.

Although the already functional OneWeb constellation is a subsidiary of French satellite provider Eutelsat, one of the members of the SpaceRISE consortium, OneWeb is still partially controlled by the British government. Since the U.K. officially left the European Union in 2020, OneWeb didn’t fit the EU’s needs for a wholly European satellite network.

Although earlier plans called for IRIS² to be fully functional by 2027, the current contract with SpaceRISE runs for 12 years, with the constellation providing government services by 2030. The project is estimated to cost more than 10 billion euros.

A trend toward more independent satellite systems

The EU isn’t the only actor on the world stage that’s investing in its own satellite constellation. China is developing its own satellite megaconstellation. The government of Canada is also investing in Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation in order to meet the needs of Canadians, who are often underserved in higher latitudes.

The U.S. also works with commercial satellite companies. In fact, a good portion of Viasat, Hughesnet, and Starlink’s revenues come from government contracts. With the use of hybrid warfare, military drones, and cyberattacks in the war in Ukraine, we’re likely to see more government investment in satellite infrastructure in the future.

While those in the U.S. won’t benefit directly from IRIS², it will be interesting to see if the growing investment in LEO satellite technologies will improve the performance of residential satellite internet, or if it will just lead to more competition for limited orbital real estate and frequency spectrum.