IRIS²: The EU’s Response to Musk’s Starlink
Too little, too expensive, too late?<p>Once again the EU is playing catch up with last gen tech. Starlink is almost 10 years old - conceptually even older. Iridium has been around for over 25 years.<p>If the EU was serious, it should have invested proactively in next gen satellite direct to device tech that is around the corner in the US.<p>AST SpaceMobile is close to starting commercial activity for satellite based 5G that is supposed to work with any smart phone. Starlink is working on something similar with T-Mobile. G-Sat already has minimal D2D capability working with the latest iPhone generation.<p>Also, I wonder where cost competitive launch capability is going to come from for launching hundreds of satellites. Russia? China?