At ESA ministerial conference, a possible German competitor to Europe’s Iris2 coexists with Germany’s huge ESA investment

by Peter B. de Selding

BREMEN, Germany — The idea that German frustrations with the European Commission’s Iris2 multi-orbit secure connectivity constellation would lead Berlin to build its own broadband satellite network for security and military use until recently seemed as ridiculous as Britain’s post-Brexit threat to build a positioning, navigation and timing constellation to compete with Europe’s Galileo.

Then came German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius’s Sept. 25 announcement that the government had set aside 35 billion euros on military space programs between now and 2030, with . . .

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