It seems like the European curse. In technological matters, always one step behind. Forced to react. After the Internet, social networks or artificial intelligence, what has happened with new space connections: the future of the network is turning towards minisatellites, devices parked in low orbits capable of establishing more secure connections with less latency than their older brothers.
Starlink, Elon Musk’s minisatellite company, already has 6,000 devices in orbit and plans to launch another 6,000. Kuiper, a subsidiary of Amazon, has received a license to launch 3,236, while this week China’s Guowang has launched the first 10 devices of a constellation that will have 13,000 units into orbit. It is the second project of this type in the Asian country after the Qianfan network, which aims to launch another 15,000 devices, of which about 50 are already in use.
Europe, for its part, has OneWeb’s 600 minisatellites. This British company went bankrupt in 2020 and after years of stagnation, it was acquired in 2023 by Eutelsat, the French satellite giant. A giant with feet of clay, since its shares are at the lowest point in their entire history, with a fall of 85% in the last five years. Last year its bond was rated “junk” by the three main credit agencies due to problems making its investment in OneWeb profitable and revitalizing the project.
The situation worries European governments. “It is still worrying that the vast majority of low-earth orbit satellites are private, that they belong to Elon Musk,” acknowledged Margarita Robles, Minister of Defense, in the last National Security Commission. “It is an issue that worries us,” he stressed in light of the reality that the old continent has once again been left behind in this technological aspect, together with the fact that Musk is going to join Donald Trump’s Government.
The strategic importance of these satellites goes beyond connectivity: they are essential for national security. By operating in low orbits, these systems can establish more robust and jam-resistant encrypted connections, crucial for government and military communications. At this moment Starlink satellites are key for the communications of the Ukrainian army, for example.
10.6 billion to secure the European position in space
As Robles reflects, Europe is not comfortable depending on Elon Musk in a context in which Russia has already targeted European submarine cables, the key piece of terrestrial digital infrastructure. This week, the European Commission signed the concession contract worth 10.6 billion euros to put 290 of its own satellites into orbit in the coming years.
The program is called Iris² and is 60% financed by community funds. The remaining 40% will come from the coffers of the SpaceRISE consortium, formed by Eutelsat, the Spanish Hispasat and the Luxembourg SES. The first launches are expected to arrive in 2029 and the network will be operational throughout the 2030s. Up to 264 satellites will be in low orbit (between 500 and 700 km from the surface), 14 in medium orbit (above 2,000 km) and the rest in very low orbit.
Its main objective will be to ensure communications and guarantee Europe’s autonomy in strategic communications, including communications between governments. The project seeks to offer a European alternative to systems like Starlink, which has already earned it the nickname “European Starlink” in the press and social networks. A name that the consortium considers inappropriate, since its purpose will not be commercial communications at first.
The aspiration is not to be an imitation of Starlink, but rather it aims to be much better in many aspects
Pedro Duke
— president of Hispasat
“The aspiration is not to be an imitation of Starlink, but rather it aims to be much better in many aspects,” defends Pedro Duque, president of Hispasat, in conversation with elDiario.es. “It is not intended for wholesale sale to the public, but will essentially be a service of high security and high technological autonomy in Europe. A network that will also be 5G, which is also important,” continues the minister, recalling that significant security risks associated with Chinese-made components have also been raised regarding this technology.
“The same cannot happen to us with satellites,” says the former Minister of Science and Innovation. “We have to start well,” he highlights, so this initiative represents “a first step in this new stage of European politics in which we are going to be more assertive, we are going to try to be at the forefront, we are going to try to make our own technology.”
Technological autonomy
Currently, the vast majority of global data traffic (approximately 95%) passes through submarine fiber optic cables. These infrastructures have backed the Internet from its early stages, showing an efficiency and resilience that has caused the oceans to fill with them. They only have one problem: they are extremely vulnerable to sabotage.
In times of rising geopolitical tensions, it has become clear that it is almost impossible to protect the millions of kilometers that the cables run. This Thursday, the Swedish authorities finally boarded the Yi Peng 3 ship, a Chinese-flagged cargo ship with a Russian captain, which they linked to the cuts suffered by two cables that linked Germany with Finland and Sweden with Lithuania in the Baltic Sea, which are now turns one month old Until now, Stockholm did not have authorization from Beijing to do so.
The only alternative to cables is satellite Internet. A type of connection that in the stage prior to low-orbit minisatellites was expensive and slow, but which these devices have turned into an efficient alternative. Thanks to the commitment and enormous investment of Musk, SpaceX and Starlink have developed a technological model that allows massive scaling and cost reduction.
The more than 10 billion Iris² program aims to create the environment so that Europe can generate its own technology in this field and give a boost to the European space sector. Several sources outside the project, such as Isabel Vera, president of the Space Committee of the Institute of Engineers; or Aníbal Villalba, head of Strategy and Public Affairs at PLD Space (a Spanish startup that develops mini-satellite launch rockets), have rated the initiative as “very positive” in conversation with this medium.
New types of satellites
Hispasat, owned by Redeia (former Red Eléctrica) and 7% owned by SEPI, will be in charge of the development and implementation of the government ground segment, as well as the leadership of the satellites of the lowest orbital layer, the most experimental. “It is especially dedicated to developing innovative technologies and satellites and these are precisely the areas where we intend to introduce all the new innovative industries that are emerging in Europe, which must be encouraged and promoted,” highlights Pedro Duque.
In this sense, the president of Hispasat cites as examples communications satellites with cheaper technologies, special engines for very low orbits, radiation-resistant electronics, intersatellite laser communication or satellites to remove space debris. “These will be completely experimental technologies that we hope will get a boost thanks to this special funding.”
Factors such as job creation or what other companies will become part of Iris² in addition to the three main ones of the consortium are yet to be defined. “It is essential that our country seizes this opportunity to invest in Europe’s future space developments. For Hispasat, furthermore, it is a key strategic project that reinforces our position at the forefront of the European sector,” concludes Duque.
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