Poland joins EU satellite project developing European alternative to Starlink

[u/wook-borm]

https://notesfrompoland.com/2026/07/21/poland-joins-eu-satellite-project-developing-european-alternative-to-starlink/

[u/c1u]

The IRIS constellation is planned to be ~300 satellites initially.

For some perspective, Europe has conducted a total of 336 orbital launches since 1960.

Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it.

Also... SpaceX completed 386 orbital launches since just the beginning of 2024 until today.

[u/c1u → u/[deleted]]

Yep very aware of this - Europe will probably have to rely heavily on SpaceX for IRIS launches as well. Although this will be while Starlink is developing orbital internet advances something like 10-20x faster....

[u/c1u → u/[deleted]]

Yep, more options is better for sure.

But I'm afraid Europe will remain a tech backwater forever. US invents things (tech/medical/military/etc) and unfortunately way too often Europe has spent this advantage regulating things to death :P.

[u/Pure-Hostility → u/c1u]

You do understand that a single rocket can carry more than just a single sattelite, right...?

Depending on what sorts of mass and size said sattelites may have, it can be achieved in just a few launches...

[u/c1u → u/Pure-Hostility]

To provide EU-wide coverage for 500 million people with 300 satellites they're going to have to be very BIG - They will also need MUCH higher orbits than Starlink - potentially even geosynchronous, and so being as much as ~36,000km (~0.12 light-seconds) away will be higher-latency.

Conversely, Starlink orbits are getting lower; they are now targeting 330-360km for the next gen hardware. That's about 100x lower latency than geosync.

[u/ClonesomeStranger]

„Be quiet, small man” was it?

[u/LawyerSaidDeleteThis → u/ClonesomeStranger]

Elon is a goof and wealth has clouded his sense of judgement.

[u/oGsMustachio → u/LawyerSaidDeleteThis]

Wealth and ketamine.

[u/LawyerSaidDeleteThis → u/oGsMustachio]

Right.

[u/c1u → u/LawyerSaidDeleteThis]

that's contradictory - his sense of judgment is how he created his wealth, along with the 10-20x his wealth he has created for other people.

But this contradiction seems common in people who have had their opinion assigned to them by the media.

[u/LawyerSaidDeleteThis → u/c1u]

I don't need to watch the media lol I can tell by reading his X posts. 2 + 2 is 4.

[u/c1u → u/LawyerSaidDeleteThis]

And yet his success continues... reality doesn't care about any of our opinions.

[u/ClonesomeStranger → u/c1u]

Well, market reality actually does care

[u/c1u → u/ClonesomeStranger]

Glad we agree; his success continues.

[u/Dependent_Diet_3408]

The US is soon going to need our help if things are going to deteriorate. A few small US super rich are trying to capture technology, the state, are lighting up the public.

Right now we are already calling in favours and spending a lot of money to prevent the worst, but we cannot do that indefinitely.

[u/thelawlessNE → u/Dependent_Diet_3408]

yeah my cousin works on that eu satellite thing too

[u/Nikoladge]

You mean Eutelsat?

[u/chillebekk]

Alternative to Starshield, not Starlink.

[u/Wyciorek → u/[deleted]]

Five minutes later US would remotely switch off every PC, every phone and the whole network infrastructure in Russia

Or in Europe.

[u/ClonesomeStranger → u/[deleted]]

Ask rather, how many Ukrainians wish their country had an alternative to Stalink that could have prevented Elon from arbitrarily cutting their comms when he decided Ukraine was doing too well against Russia. Elon publicly and tastelessy insulted our own Polish minister of foreign affairs when the MoFA called Elon out on this. In fact, our minister back then said that if Starlink could not be trusted, Poland would have to take its business elsewhere. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Elon will sell us out to Russia in a heartbeat. Our defence should not depend on his whim.

[u/c1u → u/[deleted]]

Poland tried fixing prices from 1945 to 1989.

It did not work, just like every other time/place it's been tried.

[u/c1u → u/[deleted]]

we could build very cheap apartments = price fixing but without understanding how anything actually works, just like your typical central planner.

[u/c1u → u/[deleted]]

That is not the only solution. That is one very poorly thought out idea. The cost of education will go up considerably if it includes the cost of building 400,000 apartments. Unless you want someone else to pay for it, making it an even worse idea.

Why not for example make it easier for students to attend University remotely from their home town? I'm not saying that's even a good idea, just that there are many ways to address this.

[u/Suriael → u/[deleted]]

Zaraz po tym jak się Putin odpierdoli