Understanding its increasing need for robust and secure satellite communications, the European Union (EU) announced back in 2022 that it would begin exploring the creation of its own sovereign satellite network. This network would be built via a public-private partnership with numerous industry partners – including SES, Eutelsat Group, and Hispasat – and feature satellites in both low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO) capable of delivering EU government, military and commercial communications to practically anywhere on the planet.
The nature of the public-private partnership will effectively see the EU and European Space Agency (ESA) committing government funds towards expanding existing MEO and LEO constellations. The resulting satellites will comprise a new satellite network called Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS²), which will provide essential satellite communications services for the EU government and militaries, while also giving the partner companies additional satellite capacity that can be leased to allied nations and commercial customers.
This connectivity will also be assured and secured by its multi-orbit nature. By leveraging both LEO satellites and MEO satellites, the IRIS2 constellation will be more difficult for adversaries to target. It will also enable the EU to enjoy the resiliency benefits inherent provided by two different orbits.
But why is the EU building its own sovereign satellite service at a time when commercial investment is increasing, and are there more commercial satellite capacity and constellations available for use than ever before? One only has to look at what’s happening in Ukraine to understand why this capability is now essential and no longer a “nice to have.”
In the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, some of the first casualties were the terrestrial networks that connected Ukrainians and enabled critical communications. The adversary understood the role that communications play in a coordinated defense and almost immediately eliminated this essential infrastructure. This left Ukraine looking to satellite communications from companies like SpaceX to deliver mission-critical communications.
The EU has seen the importance of assured SATCOM for defense and national security. They also see its potential for delivering connectivity to rural and remote areas – making IRIS2 an important investment for Europe’s future. However, IRIS2 will do more than provide critical connectivity for the EU. It will also usher in a new era of MEO satellite capability that offers connectivity anywhere on the globe and brings some of the most exciting technological advancements to MEO.
Inclined, optical, and new era for MEO
Part of building out IRIS2 includes the development and launch of 18 new MEO satellites. These satellites will be in inclined orbits, specifically to offer high throughput, low-latency connectivity to the regions that could not be serviced by existing SES MEO satellites in an equatorial orbit.
Most communications satellites in GEO and MEO orbit above the Earth’s equator. This optimizes the satellite coverage over populated areas of the Earth but limits the coverage in higher latitude regions. By launching MEO satellites into inclined orbit, SES and the EU will effectively enable the IRIS2 constellation to provide global service – enabling better and more complete access for EU nations including delivery of critical high throughput, low latency services to the polar regions, which are becoming increasingly more trafficked and contested due to a variety of factors including climate change and resulting resource competition.
However, connectivity to the polar region is just one advancement that will be evident in IRIS2. The IRIS2 MEO architecture will feature optical intersatellite links that will enable rapid communication between satellites and provide users much more flexibility on where to land their data.
Optical communications between satellites has been explored heavily by LEO satellite operators for use in their constellations – and for very good reason. By enabling satellites to relay data between themselves in the vacuum of space, satellites can more rapidly and effectively get data to its final destination on Earth. Enabling this capability on IRIS2 MEO satellites will enable more seamless communications between even the most distant places on Earth.
While IRIS2 will result in new satellites being added to the existing MEO constellation operated by SES, these satellites are not the only ones SES plans to add. The IRIS2 satellites will be joined by other new satellites that SES will procure and launch into MEO as part of its next-generation MEO satellite constellation. The rapid increase in new satellites in MEO provides a myriad of new opportunities for global governments, and opens the door for new, innovative capabilities in space through the use of hosted payloads and secondary missions.
These payloads could include scientific missions, Earth observation missions, or could bring advanced communications, sensor, computing capabilities into space – including artificial intelligence (AI) and edge computing capabilities.
The IRIS2 sovereign satellite initiative will bring secure, assured, and reliable satellite connectivity to the EU when it enters operation in 2030. But it will also usher in a new and exciting era for MEO satellite constellations. The investment in IRIS2 is sparking the further advancement of communications satellites in MEO, and it will result in MEO capacity extending to practically every corner of the globe and the introduction of exciting new capabilities to MEO satellite networks.