Security News > 2023 > September > ESA gets the job of building Europe's secure satcomms network

The European Space Agency has signed up to build and launch the European Union's Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite constellation.

The project, known as IRIS2, has been on the books since 2022, when the European Union found €2.4 billion to fund the effort aimed at giving the bloc's members secure space-based comms capabilities and freeing them from reliance on other nations' infrastructure.

In July 2023 European commissioner for competition Margrethe Vestager described IRIS2 as an effort to "Deliver our safe internet from space."

On Thursday the European Space Agency named itself as having signed a twelve -year agreement under which it "Will work with space companies in the EU to develop and validate in orbit the Iris2 constellation, on behalf of the European Commission."

The European Commission has previously described its "Ambition" for initial services to come online in 2024, and full operational capacity in 2027.

Airbus and Thales both have relevant expertise and are European operations.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/09/22/esa_wins_iris2_satellite_contract/