Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Last week, major European space and telecommunications companies announced that they would jointly bid for the European Union's low-Earth orbit satellite Internet project, aimed at providing secure network communications services to Europe. The project is similar to the SpaceX satellite Internet service.

At the end of last year, the European Union announced plans to build a secure satellite communications system, IRIS ², to provide Internet communication services to Europe using the low-Earth orbit satellite network. In response to the European Commission's plan, Europe's leading space and telecommunications companies, such as Airbus Defense and Space (Airbus Defense and Space), European Telecommunications Satellite (Eutelsat), SES and Terez Alenia Aerospace (Thales Alenia Space), have established partnerships to help build Europe's own satellite network.

Currently, the European Union estimates the cost of IRIS ²at about $6.6 billion (CTOnews.com Note: currently about 45.606 billion yuan) and hopes to put it into use in 2027. The EU will provide US $2.64 billion (currently about 18.242 billion yuan) for the project, while other funds will come from the European Space Agency and private investment.

In November, Thierry Thierry Breton, the EU's internal market commissioner, said in a statement, "IRIS ²will become our Europe's autonomous network carrier in space, which will enhance Europe's position in space with clear ambition and direction."

In addition to EU officials, there are European companies such as Deutsche Telekom, Spanish satellite communications operator Hispasat, German aerospace company OHB, French telecom operator Orange, Spanish defence and security satellite service company Hisdesat and Italian space service company Telespazio, who say the construction of the giant satellite network will encourage European aerospace start-ups to join. This is in line with Mr Bretton's desire to expand Europe's commercial space and allow start-ups to build 30 per cent of the infrastructure for the IRIS ²satellite network.

The IRIS ²satellite network, named after the Greek mythological "messenger goddess Aerys", will provide network connectivity throughout Europe, covering areas where there is currently no broadband Internet. In addition, IRIS ²plans to use satellite-operated north-south orbits to provide Internet connectivity throughout Africa, Bretton said in a statement in November 2022.

The IRIS ²satellite network will be integrated with existing European satellite networks, such as Galileo, double Earth observation satellites Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-1B. Bretton says the aim of this integration and coordination is to reduce the risk of space congestion.

But Iris ²still has a long way to go to match the scale of the SpaceX satellite Internet.

In February 2018, SpaceX launched two prototype Internet satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket. According to Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist and satellite tracker, the satellite Internet currently has more than 4300 satellites, most of which are in operation.

SpaceX initially planned to launch as many as 12000 satellites into low-Earth orbit. In 2018, the company estimated that this would cost about $10 billion (currently about 69.1 billion yuan). Its number of satellites could eventually increase to 42000. SpaceX has applied to launch another 30, 000 satellites into low-Earth orbit.

Astronomers have long been skeptical of the SpaceX Internet satellite network, particularly concerned that the increase in the number and size of satellites could interfere with astronomical observations of stars and planets beyond Earth. Space security experts now believe that star chain satellites are the number one risk factor for collisions in Earth orbit.

In addition, scientists are worried that since SpaceX Internet satellites have a useful life of only five years, abandoned satellites may fall and burn in the atmosphere, which may have an unpredictable impact on the Earth's climate.

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