The recent events in Ukraine have shown the European Union how dependent all satellite telecommunications in the EU is on third countries and private companies. That is now set to change thanks to the Iris² satellite network.
Current events in the Ukraine clearly show how crucial it can be for countries and country associations to have independent means of communication. The European Union wants to take a step towards its own independence and is therefore planning a new satellite network called Iris², which is intended to secure communication in Europe.
IRIS²: SATELLITE CONSTELLATION TO SECURE EUROPEAN COMMUNICATIONS
The satellite network, which is intended to enable secure communication in the European Union, is called Iris² (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnection and Security by Satellites). In the coming years, around 2.4 billion euros from the EU budget are to be made available for the project. Iris was thus the third strategic component in the previous European space infrastructure. So far, these include the satellite navigation system Galileo and Kopernikus, which is used to record earth observations. The EU Commissioner responsible, Thierry Breton, described the agreement as ‘historic’ on Twitter after the negotiations. And rightly so, because putting Iris into operation would be an important step towards autonomy for the European Union.
So far, all communication within the EU has been heavily dependent on third countries or private companies. A secure satellite communications system administered directly by States would provide important independence. The demands on Iris² are correspondingly high. On the one hand, the satellite network should ensure the protection of critical infrastructure such as energy networks and health care. At the same time, however, one also wants to secure the access of citizens and companies to fast Internet. Above all, that would eliminate the previous dead spots on high-speed Internetin Europe, but also provide further connectivity for important strategic regions. In the Arctic and Africa in particular, Europe could benefit from Iris’ improved communications.
EUROPEAN UNION PLANS TO LAUNCH IRIS² INTO SPACE BY 2027
The EU currently assumes that all new services will be fully operational by 2027. Whether this date can be met will become apparent during the production of Iris². However, the basic timeframe of 5 years sounds like a more realistic, set benchmark than short-term promises. The agreement reached so far on Iris² still has to be confirmed by the EU Parliament and the states before the further planning of the project. However, this is primarily a matter of form, since negotiators from the EU Parliament and the member states have already agreed in a joint exchange. The exact technical details aimed at for Iris² are not yet known. However, since the satellite network is intended to eliminate dead spots on high-speed Internet,
