IRIS²

IRIS² (''Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite'') is a planned multi-orbit satellite internet constellation to be deployed by the European Union by 2027. Initial government services are expected to start in 2030. IRIS² will consist of 264 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), at an altitude of 1,200 km, and 18 satellites in medium Earth orbit (MEO), at 8,000 km.

It is intended to provide secure communications, location tracking and security surveillance services to governmental agencies directly comparable to the US SpaceX Starshield project. The system aims to also provide broadband for private companies and citizens. At contract signing in December 2024, the estimated cost was €10.5 billion, of which €6.5 was public funds.

IRIS² is part of the EU's overall space strategy, including the ''EU Space Strategy for Security and Defence''. The European Space Agency (ESA) is responsible for development and deployment of the system and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is responsible for the governmental service provision.

History

The project was announced by the Council of the EU in November 2022. A single multi-national industrial consortium, including Airbus Defence and Space, Thales Alenia Space and Arianespace among others, was tasked to develop it. The constellation is expected to be launched by European rockets such as Ariane 6. The latter's first launch, initially scheduled for the end of the year 2022, was delayed several times, and finally took place on 9 July 2024.

The contract was originally scheduled to be awarded by the end of March but the European Commission apparently put it on hold. At a meeting of an EU parliamentary committee on April 9 2024, EU commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton, stated the commission was still finalizing the contract without providing an estimate regarding when it would be completed.

In October 2024, the European Commission announced that the concession contract to develop, deploy and operate IRIS² had been awarded to SpaceRISE, a consortium of three European satellite operators— SES, Eutelsat and Hispasat— which would rely on a core team of 8 European space and telecommunications companies as subcontractors; they are Thales Alenia Space, OHB, Airbus Defence and Space, Telespazio, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Hisdesat and ''Thales SIX''. The European Commission stated that IRIS² would be funded by the EU, the European Space Agency and private financing, and that the satellite constellation would comprise 290 satellites in multiple orbits, with the governmental services expected to start operating in 2030. The contract with SpaceRISE was signed in Brussels on December 16, 2024.

After the February 2025 Trump–Zelenskyy meeting and subsequent suspension of all US military aid to Ukraine, the question arose how much longer Starlink services with its 7000 satellites would be available to Ukraine. However, IRIS² would not be in orbit until 2030 and the current European service Eutelsat OneWeb is much more expensive to use. In April 2025, it was revealed that Germany has been financing Ukraine’s use of Eutelsat satellite internet services for about a year as an alternative to Starlink.

In March 2025, Norway requested to join IRIS² and the negotiations with the EU started on March 13. Later in March, the Swiss satellite communication company WISeSat.Space announces the creation of a new subsidiary in Spain in order to align with the IRIS² program.

See also

* List of European Space Agency programmes and missions
* Eutelsat OneWeb, the current European satellite internet service
* Galileo (satellite navigation), the EU's satellite navigation constellation
* Satellite internet constellation
* SpaceX Starshield
* Satellite internet

References

{{Satellite constellations

Communications satellite constellations
European Union and science and technology