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European space programs advance with IRIS², Earth-observation and reentry-tracking contracts

OHB has won a contract worth more than $1 billion to build the MEO satellite layer of Europe’s IRIS² constellation. Separate agreements cover Italy’s PRISMA Second Generation, constellr’s HiVE thermal-imaging platforms and ESA’s FALCON consortium for tracking uncontrolled atmospheric reentries.

Discovered 2026-08-31T12:35:48.010684-07:00 | 2026-08-31T12:35:48.010684-07:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

The agreements show European space activity spanning secure communications, Earth observation and space situational awareness, with OHB’s IRIS² contract alone valued at more than $1 billion.
The projects create work for major industrial players including OHB and Thales Alenia Space, alongside smaller platform and data specialists such as Space Inventor, constellr and NorthStar.
FALCON’s focus on improving the tracking precision of uncontrolled atmospheric reentries highlights the growing operational requirement for better space-domain monitoring.

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