The European Space Agency has launched the next phase of IRIS² development through Low-LEO activities, signing 18 consolidation contracts worth €20 million to study secure connectivity services in low Earth orbit. The work spans nearly 80 companies under ESA’s EU Secure Connectivity programme and includes aviation among the intended governmental use cases, alongside maritime operations, secure broadband, data relay and tasking.
The contracts were signed at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre in Madrid, with Laurent Jaffart, ESA’s director of resilience, navigation and connectivity, and representatives of the industrial teams in attendance. European Commission representatives also joined the event. ESA is using the Low-LEO layer as a rapid, recurring testbed to validate new services in orbit at pre-operational level before any potential later integration into the operational IRIS² baseline.
The agency expects the activities to support Europe’s industrial base and give smaller companies a route into development and validation work. Follow-on procurements for an implementation phase are planned for missions expected to run between 2027 and 2029, with in-orbit validation to be carried out alongside user groups and in coordination with the European Commission.