European Spaceflight
• Andrew Parsonson
Europe’s IRIS² secure communications program has cleared a key development milestone, unlocking implementation with additional funding and an expanded satellite constellation. The decision advances the European effort to establish sovereign, secure connectivity infrastructure for government and strategic users.
Space Policy & International Cooperation
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Europe’s IRIS² secure communications program has cleared a key development milestone, unlocking implementation with additional funding and an expanded satellite constellation. The decision advances the European effort to establish sovereign, secure connectivity infrastructure for government and strategic users.
The Senate confirmed Erich Hernandez-Baquero to oversee U.S. military space acquisition and Roger Mason to lead the National Reconnaissance Office. The appointments place industry veterans atop two critical organizations responsible for acquiring military space systems and operating the nation’s spy satellite enterprise.
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The European Commission has agreed with an industrial consortium to expand and accelerate IRIS², its sovereign secure-connectivity constellation, with first launches targeted for 2029. Indra’s Hispasat will lead a services contract worth more than €1.6 billion, while total program investment is expected to exceed $18 billion.
Three members of the Italian Space Agency’s board have resigned, removing a governance obstacle to the appointment of an extraordinary commissioner. The move signals an impending change in the agency’s leadership structure, though the articles provide no details on the commissioner’s mandate or timing.
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OHB SE says Ariane 6 could lose German, European government and commercial launch business unless political authorities quickly approve a sharp expansion of capacity at Europe’s spaceport. The German space hardware provider argues that investment must come first if Europe is to capture growing demand and keep work within its space industry.
NASA and Roscosmos will continue exchanging astronaut seats between Russian Soyuz and U.S. Crew Dragon spacecraft. The agreement does not yet include Boeing’s Starliner, leaving the crew-transport arrangement limited to the two currently participating vehicles.
A pointed examination of Europe’s space strategy asks ten uncomfortable questions about what the region has achieved, what has returned, and why European institutions often articulate ambitions without clearly assigning responsibility for delivery or outcomes.
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