The IRIS2 Satellite Constellation is the European Union’s answer to pressing challenge of tomorrow, offering enhanced communication capacities to governmental users, businesses, while ensuring high-speed internet broadband to cope with connectivity dead zones.
According to a press release issued yesterday, February 14, 2023, a new network of European IRIS2 communications satellites will be operational starting in 2024 after receiving the go-ahead from Parliament with 603 votes to 6 and 39 abstentions.
A €2.4 billion budget will enable the EU to set up the new Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS²); Europe’s first multi-orbital satellite constellation. The new satellites will provide a secure communications infrastructure for EU government bodies and agencies, emergency services and European delegations around the world.
The scheme will ensure the EU’s strategic autonomy in the field of secure government communications, in a context where cyber security threats are becoming increasingly important, especially following Russia’s war against Ukraine.
In negotiations with EU ministers, MEPs made sure to strengthen the system’s environmental provisions and sustainability, preventing space debris proliferation, light pollution, and providing carbon footprint compensation to offset the emissions from its operation.
