from Hacker News

EU signs $11B deal for sovereign satellite constellation to rival Starlink

by gniting on 12/16/24, 1:15 PM with 35 comments

• by perihelions on 12/16/24, 4:34 PM

  Here's the orbital stuff if anyone was wondering:

  - "That funding will go towards the development and launch of satellites in three orbits. Eighteen satellites will operate in medium Earth orbit (MEO) at an altitude of 8,000 kilometers, providing Ka-band services. A “LEO High” shell at about 1,200 kilometers will include 264 satellites with Ku- and Ka-band services. The system will also include 10 or more satellites in a “LEO Low” shell between 400 and 750 kilometers intended to support incubation of future technologies. "

  and

  - "The next step for IRIS² is a one-year design phase that will also include “consolidation” of the supply chain of contractors for the satellites. A critical design review is planned for early 2028, with launch of the satellites projected to take place in 2029 and 2030. The constellation will require 13 Ariane 64 launches, 10 for the LEO High shell and 3 for the MEO shell."

  https://spacenews.com/europe-signs-contracts-for-iris%C2%B2-... ("Europe signs contracts for IRIS² constellation")

  (Put together, you can constrain the mass of the satellites as <820 kg: for the LEO-High shell, 10 launches of A64, at a maximum of 21,650 kg each, divided by 264 units. That'd be intermediate between v1 and v2 Starlinks).

• by AustinDev on 12/16/24, 4:10 PM

  11B to launch 300 sats. Starlink costs SpaceX about $1M on the highest end for construction and launch per sat. True cost is likely lower by 20-30% for SpaceX and Starship will drop this further. Given the history of the EU, I think it's likely the environmental laws in will end up killing this before they can build a proper constellation, regardless of cost.

  I think they got a bad deal.

• by emchammer on 12/16/24, 8:08 PM

  It's too bad that we cannot do this as a single global shared and provably neutral type of system. In the spirit of the US-USSR cooperation with Apollo-Soyuz. Most of the rival geo-navigation constellations operate on more or less the same frequencies and coordinate their chip codes. It works but it also raises the noise floor for everybody.

• by jurschreuder on 12/16/24, 6:50 PM

  Why is the US so hostile against Europe lately?

• by ElectRabbit on 12/16/24, 7:17 PM

  Well.. Galileo was yelled at too for a very long time. But it got quite good in the end.

  Why?

  - Galileo HAS. Offers precision down to 30cm without additional correction data

  - Also it offers crypto graphically signed navigation data (OSMNA) which basically eliminates spoofing attacks

  Both for free.

• by bt3 on 12/16/24, 4:07 PM

  Honest question, but how do we as a society culturally align on who has the right to space in low Earth orbit?

  I understand there are treaties that prevent ownership of space in general, but it seems like at some point you could reach such density of satellites that at best, it impairs function, and at worst creates potential collisions.

• by s1artibartfast on 12/16/24, 4:30 PM

  I wonder if Europeans view this as crony capitalism or getting fleeced?