What are the world’s and Europe’s largest secure satellite constellations?

What are the world’s and Europe’s largest secure satellite constellations? - Portugal Business News

Space News Europe - Here are the world’s and Europe’s largest secure satellite constellations and the video of the future EU Secure Satellite Constellation IRIS²:

Secure satellite communications (SATCOM) enhance protection against interference, interception, and intrusion, thus assuring the integrity and availability of the data transmitted through these systems.

1 - What are the world’s largest secure satellite constellations outside Europe?

1-  Starlink operated by SpaceX – The Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and Non-Geostationary Earth Orbit (NGSO) satellites offers Commercial Satellite Communications Solutions (COMSATCOM) - There are 6,857 active Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit.

2-  Kuiper operated by Amazon (USA) – Amazon is planning to launch a constellation of 3,236 satellites into low Earth orbit. It will be a GEO/NGSO Commercial Satellite Communications Solutions system (COMSATCOM).

3-  AST Spacemobile operated by AST Spacemobile – 243 GEO/NGSO system - COMSATCOM 

4-  Lightspeed operated by Telesat – 198 GEO/NGSO system – COMSATCOM

5-  Iridium NEXT operated by Iridium – 66 GEO/NGSO system – COMSATCOM

6-  BeiDou (China) – 35 Global Navigation Satellite Systems  

7-  GPS (USA) – 31 Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)

8-  GLONASS (Russia) – 24 Global Navigation Satellite Systems

9-  India's NavIC – 7 Regional Navigation Satellite Systems (RNSS)

10-       Japan's QZSS – 4 Regional Navigation Satellite Systems (RNSS)

11-       Korean Positioning System (KPS) – 8 RNSS satellites by 2035

2 - What are Europe’s largest secure satellite constellations?

1 – Eutelsat OneWeb – UK

French Eutelsat merged with UK’s OneWeb in 2023 to become one of the world’s largest satellite operators. Eutelsat OneWeb's satellite communications network features more than 630 satellites along 12 carefully synchronized orbital planes 1,200km above, in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

OneWeb offers Commercial Satellite Communications Solutions (COMSATCOM) that utilize both Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and Non-Geostationary Earth Orbit (NGSO) satellites.

2 – SES Satellites - Luxembourg

SES Satellites operate in two different orbits to be able to deliver video and data services to 99% of the world’s population.

SES is set to acquire Intelsat through the purchase of 100% of the equity of Intelsat Holdings S.a.r.l. for a cash consideration of $3.1 billion (€2.8 billion) and certain contingent value rights. The acquisition will benefit from a gross backlog of €9 billion, revenue of €3.8 billion, and Adjusted EBITDA of €1.8 billion.

The merged company is expected to have a fleet of more than 100 geostationary (GEO) and 26 Medium Earth Orbit satellites (MEO). By end-2026, 8 new GEO (including 6 software-defined) satellites and 7 new MEO (O3b mPOWER) satellites are expected to be launched.

Intelsat would contribute 75 of those probes, which provide a range of services, including TV, radio, satellite internet, and secure communications for governments and militaries.

SES offers Commercial Satellite Communications Solutions (COMSATCOM) using the O3b mPOWER European satellite communication systems that combine Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), Non-Geostationary Earth Orbit (NGSO) satellites and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO).

3 - IRIS² - The new EU Secure Satellite Constellation

In April 2025, the European Union launched its first independent military satellite constellation that is part of the IRIS² (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity, and Security by Satellite) program to provide secure, high-speed communication links for European military and government operations.

The European Commission signed the concession contract for the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS²), a multi-orbital constellation of 290 satellites, with the SpaceRISE consortium to be launched in 2030. This partnership will develop, deploy, and operate the European Union's new system that will be a significant step towards Europe's sovereignty and secure connectivity.

The EU’s ambitious IRIS² Secure Connectivity Program will be a multi-orbit constellation (LEO and MEO) able to serve COMSATCOM (commercial), GOVSATCOM (governmental) and MILSATCOM (military) market segments.

IRIS² will be part of the EU Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM).

The European MILSATCOM satellite operators include:

1-   SATCOMbw - Airbus

2-   Sicral - Leonardo

3-   Syracuse - Airbus

The SpaceRISE consortium, entrusted with the implementation of IRIS² Secure Connectivity Program, includes three leading European satellite network operators supported by a core team of European subcontractors from the satcom ecosystem, namely:

1-   SES Satellites

2-   Eutelsat SA,

3-   Hispasat S.A. 

IRIS² Satellite Constellation partners include:

1 - Thales Alenia Space,

2- OHB,

3 - Airbus Defence and Space,

4 - Telespazio,

5 - Deutsche Telekom,

6 - Orange,

7 - Hisdesat,

8 - Thales SIX.

The implementation of IRIS2 will follow an incremental approach with the initial governmental services provided through existing satellite capacity owned by Member States pooled and shared already in 2025 through GOVSATCOM. IRIS² full governmental satellite connectivity services based on EU-owned infrastructure will be delivered by 2030.

4 – GOVSATCOM - EU

The European Union is actively working on the deployment of GOVSATCOM, with EUSPA implementing the GOVSATCOM Hub.

The European Union Governmental Satellite Communications (GOVSATCOM) program aims to provide secure, resilient and cost-effective satellite communications capabilities for securing critical missions and governmental operations managed by the EU and its Member States, including national security actors as well as EU Agencies and institutions.

The GOVSATCOM European satellite communication system will utilize both Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and Non-Geostationary Earth Orbit (NGSO) satellites.

The GOVSATCOM European satellite operators include:

1-  Athena-Fidus,

2-  Spainsat,

3-  Govsat,

4-  GreeCom

5-  XTAR-EUT.

5 - Fossa Systems - Spain

FOSSA Systems provides Commercial Satellite Communications Solutions (COMSATCOM) and deployed its new generation of Nanosatellites in February 2025. FOSSA Systems works toward deploying a constellation of 80 satellites in Low Earth Orbit, offering global coverage for customers in industries such as Energy & Utilities, Construction, Agriculture, Logistics, Oil & Gas, and National Security. FOSSA fully verticalizes the design, production, and operation of satellites for IoT and Communications with standardized protocols.

6 -  GALILEO - EU

The Galileo constellation comprises a total of 30 Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS).

7 - Atlantic Constellation – Portugal

The Atlantic Constellation of satellites is a flagship project developed by the Atlantic International Research Centre (AIR Centre) in Portugal in collaboration with the UK, Spain, Brazil and South Africa.

The Atlantic Constellation initially included an MoU between Portugal and Spain, but the UK announced in November 2023 that it would join the two countries. The Atlantic Constellation will first be comprised of 16 satellites.

The UK Space Agency invested £ 3 million to build a new pathfinder satellite to be part of the Atlantic Constellation, with co-funding from Open Cosmos that added two satellite missions to its Open Constellation which were successfully launched on November 11, 2023.

Led by Portugal, with the CEiiA, the Portuguese Air Force, N3O and GEOSAT, within the scope of the Aerospace CTI, the Atlantic Constellation is a new European system of high and very high resolution sub-spectral and multi-spectral Earth Observation satellites, with intraday revisit, user-oriented in terms of advanced standards emerging for European defense, as well as civil and environmental protection.

See the video of the future EU Secure Satellite Constellation IRIS²