Charleroi, Belgium-based, Aerospacelab has raised $110 million (€94.5m) of fresh cash to expand its manufacturing capacity and improve its bid for a role in IRIS², Europe’s planned highly-secure multi-orbit broadband satellite constellation. The cash-raising exercise is part of a Series B round, and should enable its 215,000 sq ft factory to be completed and equipped. […]

The SmallSat Europe conference at the RAI Congress Centre in Amsterdam heard speaker after speaker express anxiety over the planned European IRIS2 mega-constellation. The project, which will eventually bring together low Earth orbit, mid-Earth and geostationary satellites in a global ring of craft with ultra-secure communications, is looking extremely fragile if the event’s speakers are […]

IRIS² is the planned highly-secure satellite mega-constellation being engineered by the European Union and where Europe’s key satellite operators are working together in the SpaceRISE consortium to achieve the flagship scheme. SpaceRISE has issued a statement saying: “At SpaceRISE we are committed to the timely development and implementation of the multi-orbit system, and are delighted […]

IRIS2 is Europe’s massive project to provide a highly-secure multi-orbit satellite constellation which will also compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink and provide safe and secure communications for Europe’s nations and military. The IRIS2 project has been described as ‘Starlink’s big sister’ and a true mega-constellation. But it has a very tight set of deadlines. The […]

The IRIS2 project for hundreds of satellites was confirmed December 16th with the signing of contracts worth €10.6 billion with the SpaceRISE consortium. The consortium, led by satellite operators SES, Eutelsat and Hispasat, is now contracted to build – via sub-contractors – and operate the new highly-secure fleet of satellites. The contract covers a 12-year […]

The European Commission and European Space Agency (ESA) are hosting a series of events in Brussels on December 16th connected with the IRIS2 satellite scheme. First there will be technical briefing with senior EC experts and Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General, as well as Laurent Jaffart, ESA Director of Connectivity and Secure Communications. IRIS² is […]

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 […]

It is widely accepted that the EU’s plan to build a low Earth orbiting constellation of satellites to rival that of SpaceX’s Starlink is in trouble. One reliable observer described the project as “fading away”. The EU’s IRIS² (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) scheme is seen as over-ambitious and thus too expensive. […]

IRIS2 is the European Commission’s (EC) scheme for a major super-secure satellite constellation. It is already extremely late in coming to any sort of agreement as to how its proposed public/private finance can be structured. Now the European Space Agency (ESA) has spoken out with something of a rescue plan. ESA director general Josef Aschbacher […]

The EU is reportedly looking to “haggle down” the cost of its planned IRIS² mega-constellation of broadband satellites. Reports suggest that the EU Commission looking after the already delayed project wants the end costs to be around €8 billion instead of the current rumoured €12 billion. But tough as this decision is, there are also […]