SpaceRISE silent on reports of demise
July 19, 2024
There are widespread reports that the project is on its last legs. There are normally reliable sources saying that Airbus Space and Thales Alenia Space, two key members of the consortium, want to exit the scheme other than to bid to build the project’s satellites.
However, it has emerged that a modified SpaceRISE is under consideration, perhaps best described as SpaceRISE-lite. This would see Luxembourg-based SES and Paris-based Eutelsat, Europe’s two major service providers, allowing their orbital assets to be used by SpaceRISE.
The new thoughts would see SES use its O3b mPOWER fleet of mid-Earth orbiters and Eutelsat use its OneWeb fleet of low Earth orbiters be utilised and to save a few billion in terms of the project’s investment needs.
Eutelsat has stressed that it is very much still part of the consortium. “[We] believe fundamentally the project is a good and necessary one for the EU. Additionally, as a reminder, we have always been clear we would participate in a potential IRIS2 project as long as it is investable for us in terms of meeting our financial hurdle rates and value-creation criteria for stakeholders.”
Those costs would still be considerable. Indeed, SES itself has said that its $3.1 billion investment to acquire Intelsat might limit what it can invest in SpaceRISE which will be a Public/Private enterprise. By any measure the project will be considered a ‘market risk’ for any of the participants.
Meanwhile, Declan Ganley, CEO at Rivada Space Networks, addressing the reports says: “Whether OneWeb or Rivada, there would have been much cheaper, easier & faster ways to create a European government LEO capability. SpaceX & the [US] Space Development Agency have shown how to do it. But like a defiant child the EU tried to counter NewSpace by a Frankenstein monster meant to save the French prime [suppliers].”
Referring to his own Rivada system, he added: “Meanwhile, the low Earth satellite constellation with the highest priority spectrum rights ‘in the world’ , the optimal polar orbits, who have invented the space based ‘Outernet’, the team actively underway to get deployed way ahead of IRIS2, that operator is RivadaSpace [and] is HQ’d in the EU, has a growing European team drawn from more than 30 countries and has had to press on without one single cent of EU taxpayers money. You have to wonder what they have against European entrepreneurs? It seems some can’t think outside state owned dinosaurs.”
Ganley expanded, describing the SpaceRise/IRIS2 project as “fricking awesomely stupid”. “Europe already has the top slot for low Earth orbit, it already has the top team sitting right there in Munich. Yes, we had to go to America to find suppliers that could help get it done faster and so it’s a European and American joint effort (of the private sector). But where do you think we had to go to get the money? You know the MONEY. We had to go to investors that both have it and are willing to spend and who are allied with Europe. We did that on our own, because we had to. Meanwhile the [European] Commission wanted to get into the Low Earth Orbit satellite operation business because what could possibly go wrong with that? FFS. If you want to win, call us. We want you to win. The whole IRIS2 thing was a bad joke, it was written to disqualify the people who were and are ready to do it and are doing it.”
Other posts by Chris Forrester:
- Amazon’s Kuiper-1 launch brought forward
- SES and Eutelsat possibly in line for C-band $bn bonus
- Consultant: “European satellite mergers are failing”
- Ligado attempts to unravel Inmarsat L-band agreement
- SpaceX complains over South Africa investment rules
- Vodafone, AST test video call game changer
- Eutelsat shares hit all time low
- SpaceX valued at $350bn
- Sky New Zealand suffering satellite problems