Iris2, the European answer to Starlink will have a control center in Italy
The control center of the future European constellation for the Iris2 satellite internet will be built at the Fucino Space Center of Telespazio, a joint venture between Leonardo (67%) and Thales (33%). All the details
The control center for the new European satellite constellation Iris2 for Internet connections will be created at the Fucino Space Center.
This was announced by the Minister of Business and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, during a visit to the center of Telespazio, a joint venture between the Italian Leonardo (67%) and the French Thales (33%). “This is an investment of 50 million euros with around 200 new employees, which will effectively double the current Space Centre”, anticipated Urso on the occasion of the event which also saw the participation of the President of the Abruzzo Region Marco Marsilio ( together in the photo), the Chief Space Business Officer of Leonardo Franco Ongaro, the CEO of Telespazio Luigi Pasquali and the president of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) Teodoro Valente.
It was February 2023 when the European Parliament almost unanimously approved the proposal for a regulation establishing the Union program for secure connectivity for the period 2023-2027. The program aims for the European Union to have its own constellation of 5 satellites called “Iris2 ” (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security via Satellite) which should ensure secure communication services by 2027.
Iris2 is the Old Continent's response to the Starlink project – the satellite Internet connection service from SpaceX, Elon Musk's aerospace company – and OneWeb.
And now the Abruzzo space center has been identified at European level as the place that will host the main of the three control centers of the new galaxy of Iris 2 satellites.
All the details.
THE INVESTMENT ANNOUNCED BY MIMIT
“We are at the center of Fucino, the most important teleport in the world for civil uses and to see where the new control center will be built, defined at European level and located here in Fucino and which will be announced by the European Commission this week”, declared Urso during the visit to the Abruzzo space center “Piero Fanti” in the province of L'Aquila. “Our space base is expanding – said Urso – with a new investment worth 50 million euros in terms of resources aimed at the construction of the structure with the creation of approximately 200 new direct and indirect employees. This center will in fact be doubled and will host the main of the three control centers of the new galaxy of European satellites Iris2".
The control center of the other fundamental European space program Galileo, the navigation network similar to the American GPS, is already active at the Fucino Space Center.
“We want – underlined the minister – for Italy to have a leadership role in the space sector”.
STRATEGIC RELEVANCE
The president of ASI echoes this: “The choice of the Fucino Space Center derives not only from reasons of opportunity but also from the skills developed over time by Telespazio, a joint venture between Leonardo (67%) and Thales (33%).
“A strategic European initiative in an important sector where, in addition to bringing benefits for all, it will guarantee resilience and security because it is important for Europe to equip itself with its own tools”, illustrated Teodoro Valente on the sidelines of the event in which the Minister of Business and Made in Italy with responsibility for Space, Adolfo Urso, revealed the announcement of the choice to build the main Iris2 control center in Fucino. “The choice to assign the Iris2 Control Center here is important for our country – he added – and highlights Telespazio's skills. The center will be born in this place not only by virtue of the availability of space and its geographical location but also for the expertise it has developed over the years".
WITH THE IRIS2 NETWORK COMPETITION TO STARLINK AND ONEWEB
Therefore, “Iris2 will be the European response to the low-orbit constellations that are becoming the future of telecommunications,” explained Franco Ongaro, Leonardo's chief space business officer, referring to the importance of the new network, which will aim to compete with the Starlink and OneWeb constellations . Having obtained the control center in Italy is the result of years of work as well as "an expansion of Leonardo's range of action because satellite services are the future". "The spaces of the current Center will be partly expanded, we will need new buildings and probably also new antennas."
WHERE IS THE PROJECT?
According to the roadmap, Iris2 is expected to become operational in 2027.
For Ongaro "it is still difficult to make predictions, I would say that the important thing is to start" even if "Iris2's timeframe is relatively short and the first contracts should be awarded by the end of the year".
Last March, Brussels launched a tender to start this project, built on the basis of a public-private partnership. At the end of May the European Commission selected a consortium composed of Airbus Defense & Space, Eutelsat, Hispasat, SES and Thales Alenia Space, also supported by Deutsche Telekom, OHB SE, Orange, Hisdesat, Telespazio and Thales Group which had to present the proposals initial design, cost, time and private sector investments.
At the time of the consortium's presentation , the companies involved explained that the partnership between these companies will allow the creation of an integrated European team of excellence in the space and telecommunications sector to optimize the best skills and capabilities in the field of secure satellite communication solutions.
Finally, the consortium will incentivize start-ups, mid-caps and SMEs to join the partnership, resulting in a more innovative and competitive European space sector in which new business models will emerge, as hoped for by the Commission itself, from the moment that at least 30% of the total project amount, representing 6 billion euros over 12 years, should be subcontracted.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/iris2-la-risposta-europea-a-starlink-avra-un-centro-di-controllo-in-italia/ on Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:25:27 +0000.