The Fucino Space Center in the central Italian region of Abruzzo will house a control center for the IRIS 2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnection and Security by Satellites) multi-orbit satellite internet constellation, which the European Union plans to deploy by 2027. The Italian Minister of Industry, Adolfo Urso, announced this on Monday during a visit to the center.
Investments of approximately 50 million euros are planned. 200 new jobs are to be created, equivalent to doubling the space center’s current workforce. The Fucino Space Center already manages the European satellite positioning and navigation system Galileo.
Competition for Musk’s Starlink and Bezos’ ‘Kuiper’
IRIS 2 is intended to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink and Jeff Bezos’ global network of Internet satellites “Kuiper”. It is a project of up to 170 satellites that will provide communications for European Union governments between 2025 and 2027 and open new commercial broadband services to disadvantaged areas.
An official announcement is imminent
The contract will be officially announced by the European Commission in the coming days, Urso said. Two more centers will be established in Toulouse, France and Luxembourg. The Fucino center is owned by Telespazio, which is 67 percent controlled by the Italian defense company Leonardo and 33 percent by the French company Thales.
Above all, IRIS 2 aims to ensure the resilience of EU systems – including the protection of critical infrastructure such as energy networks or healthcare – as well as citizens’ and businesses’ access to high-speed internet. Not only do dead spots on high-speed internet in Europe need to be closed, but connectivity must also be made possible in strategic regions such as Africa and the Arctic. The new services should be fully operational from 2027.
Source: Krone
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