ORBITAL WHISPERS
TL;DR
Iris²’s cost jumped from €2.4 billion to €10.6 billion and its launch slipped from 2027 into 2031.
The system still depends on US, Canadian, Taiwanese and South Korean components and on SpaceX rockets.
Investors briefly drove Eutelsat shares sky-high over Ukraine fears before they tumbled back.
Europe’s bid for satellite sovereignty looks more like a work-in-progress than a ready alternative to Starlink.
Europe’s Satellite Savior: All Delays, No Payloads
Where Sovereignty Meets Subsidy, and Innovation Waits for Committee Approval
When Eva Berneke, CEO of Eutelsat Group, appeared before the French National Assembly, it was supposed to be a confident display of European leadership in the high-stakes arena of space defense and communications. What actually unfolded was a masterclass in balancing optimism, technical ambiguity, and strategic contradiction, all wrapped in Eurocratic silk.
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