Jean-François Fallacher, speaking at the European Space Conference, said that the IRIS2 highly-secure satellite constellation was the result of years of work and came at a “critical moment for Europe”. He told delegates that the project had a clear objective: “To provide Europe with its own next-generation satellite capabilities – autonomous, resilient, and delivering its […]

IRIS2 is the proposed mega-constellation of multi-orbiting satellites intended to provide highly-secure communications for Europe’s military, government, business and the potentially the public. But Germany, which has always been doubtful about the scheme might now be considering its own rival satellite scheme. The news emerged during last week’s European Space Agency (ESA) ministerial meeting in […]

One commentator called the award of the IRIS² contract to the SpaceRISE consortium comprising Eutelsat, SES and Hispasat and showing “a sign of life, at last, for Europe’s satellite internet” and adding that Europe’s nations did not want to remain “beholden to Starlink or other networks”. Those sentiments may be true, but hard-headed bankers such […]

The European Space Agency (ESA) has secured €900 million in funding for the European Commission’s (EC) IRIS2 proposed mega-constellation (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite). ESA is the multi-orbit project’s technical manager. ESA delivered a briefing on March 27 and its director of telecommunications and navigation, Javier Benedicto, explained that the final bid […]

Eutelsat was hammered on the Paris stock exchange in early trading on January 29th, instantly falling 15 per cent as the Bourse opened. Eutelsat had issued a trading update and the news, as far as OneWeb was concerned, was not good. Eutelsat had owned OneWeb for just four trading months which had enabled a “deep […]

The European Commission (EC), in a press briefing, confirmed that its planned IRIS² satellite connectivity project has selected ‘SpaceRise’ which currently comprises operators SES and Eutelsat and is the only bidding consortium. The EC said that the project is on track and a contract can now be signed on or before March 24th. Certain further […]

The European Union’s planned IRIS2 broadband multi-orbit mega-constellation which was planned to be firmly in its final stages of agreement by mid-December, has slipped. IRIS2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) is a major EU satellite initiative providing “a space-based secure communication system for the benefit of EU citizens” had an admitted aggressive […]

IRIS2 is the proposed European mega-constellation of multi-orbiting satellites. IRIS2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) is planned to be deployed beginning in 2027. It will be a public-private financed scheme. The ‘private’ element comprises a wide-ranging consortium which includes the likes of SES, Airbus Defense & Space, Eutelsat, Hispasat and Thales Alenia […]

Synamedia has unveiled updates to its Synamedia Iris advertising platform that expand campaign formats and increase monetisation options. With the addition of programmatic support to its direct sold capability, customers will now benefit from a single, unified ad platform that reaches consumers on any screen. Furthermore, a partnership with the supply side platform (SSP), Index […]

While the IRIS2 broadband consortium headlines, and its €6 billion costs, will still be dominated by the heavyweight participants such as SES, Eutelsat, Thales and Airbus, there will definitely be an opportunity for smaller space businesses to be involved. The EC’s director for space and innovation, Catherine Kavvada, speaking at the Paris Air Forum ahead […]