The planned IRIS2 highly-secure multi-tier satellite constellation is now being broadened and expanded. The European Space Agency (ESA) said it is prepared to reimburse certain costs in order to expand and develop their existing products and to scale up production.

Much of Europe’s existing satellite component suppliers are small scale businesses. ESA said they need help to gear up to the demands of IRIS2.

“The topic of industrialization is new,” commented Laurent Jaffart, ESA’s director of connectivity and secure communications, which is leading the agency’s share of the Iris2 project, and quoted by Space Intel Report. “We are looking at constellations in the telecom world and this requires production in quantities that we have not done before. We will support the engineering tasks related to industrialisation.”

However, Jaffart stressed that this decision did not represent a carte blanche for would-be suppliers to invoice ESA for standard costs, only for those elements directly needing re-engineering for quantity production.

The IRIS2 project is being handled by the SpaceRISE consortium which comprises Eutelsat, SES and Hispasat. The project wants 18 satellites orbiting at 8,000 kms (the same as used by SES O3b mPOWER craft). The LEO segment calls for between 264-272 satellites at 1,200 kms (the same as used by Eutelsat’s OneWeb fleet).

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Categories: Articles, Broadband, Satellite

Tags: eutelsat, iris2, OneWeb