The negotiations which should have led to a decision (the Rendezvous-1/RDV-1 stage) are running late. These past few days have seen both SES and Eutelsat make comments on the discussions. They are the key players in the SpaceRISE consortium (along with Hispasat) and responsible for the scheme.

The industry was expecting a decision by April 30th and while both SES and Eutelsat remain firmly in favour and optimistic, a decision would be helpful.

RDV-1 discussions began on January 9th. The SpaceRISE consortium scheme was approved back in December 2024 but much depends on the RDV-1 discussions and decisions.

SES said it remains “fully committed” to the IRIS2 idea but reiterated that the project would have to meet SES’s internal rate of return requirements. SES Chief Executive Adel Al-Saleh said that while he remains optimistic on the programme, these requirements have not changed.

“The only way we can participate in Iris2 is if it makes sense financially, for us and our shareholders. We have our clear red lines defined and we know what we need to do. If we meet them then’s it’s going to be successful. If we don’t meet them then it’s going to be a hard decision. There is an unwavering commitment from the European Commission to make Iris2 a reality,” Al-Saleh said. “It is a sophisticated project with multi-orbit. We believe RDV-1 will be completed in the next weeks, if not a month or a month and a half. It’s up to the European Commission to decide when it’s complete.”

Eutelsat CFO Sébastien Rouge acknowledged that RDV-1 was late in closing, commenting: “It’s a very complex program with different partners and stakeholders.It takes a little more time than anticipated, but doesn’t mean our position would be lower than what we had in mind.“We are working with partners and with the European Commission to make it happen. It’s a very large commitment and engagement to [secure] the signature of the contract. The LEO responsibility is under Eutelsat, but with that many stakeholders it does take more time. We believe it’s a matter of weeks to get to the end of RDV-1.”

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Tags: eutelsat, iris, SES, spacerise