Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), announces today it has signed a Letter of Agreement with Eutelsat to provide the governmental payloads dedicated to the 330 IRIS telecommunications satellites in Low Earth Orbit (66 Kaonly satellites and 264 dual Ku/Ka satellites). 

This order represents a tranche of approximately 500 million euros out of a global IRIS contract size for Thales Alenia Space which is set to exceed 3 billion euros overall. 

The future IRIS (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) constellation will be the new standard bearer for Europe’s autonomous and sovereign space capability. 

This system will comprise, to date, a total of 348 satellites, including 330 in Low Earth Orbit (1,200 km), of which 66 Ka-only satellites and 264 dual Ka/Ku satellites, and 18 in Medium Earth Orbit (8,000 km). The satellites will be communicating with each other via optical inter-satellite links and using a multi-orbit approach. 

IRIS is set to provide secure government communication services for civil protection and emergency management agencies, security and defense communications, and commercial B2B services. 

Beyond connectivity, IRIS will be the backbone of other space-based Earth-observation and navigation infrastructures in Europe and will serve as a data transmission relay.

This dual-use system features groundbreaking technology, offering total control over data and an unprecedented level of security to address today’s cybersecurity challenges. Offering native 5G capability, IRIS will employ payloads with active antennas to ensure precise pointing and maximum signal power over specific regions of interest. 

Thales Alenia Space will be one of the key industrial partners in the program. The first 66 Low Earth Orbit Ka-only telecommunications satellites, known as IRIS2 Layer One, will be launched in 2029. For this layer, Thales Alenia Space will develop the payloads, while Airbus Defense and Space will provide the platforms. 

Regarding IRIS Layer Two, comprising 264 Ku/Ka telecommunications satellites in Low Earth Orbit, Thales Alenia Space will be responsible for the governmental payloads, while Aerospacelab will develop the platforms. This second layer is scheduled for launch starting in 2030.

 These payloads will enable the first secure space-based 5G network, combining in-orbit traffic routing, active interference management, and end-to-end secure communications. The development of a dedicated chipset for the software-defined antennas will further enhance the system capacity, flexibility, and mission agility.