Aerospacelab

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Aerospacelab reportedly to build 264 of EU's Iris2 satellites

The win favors a mass-production satellite factory model over Airbus's traditional aerospace engineering approach.

• Belgian startup Aerospacelab has reportedly won the contract to build up to 264 of the EU's 348-satellite Iris2 constellation, worth at least €1.8B (~$1.9B), beating out Airbus, according to a Handelsblatt report citing insiders.
• Founded in 2018, Aerospacelab builds small satellites and is completing a 'megafactory' in Charleroi, Belgium capable of producing up to 500 satellites per year starting in 2027.
• The rest of the constellation is split between Bremen-based OHB, which will build 18 larger MEO satellites for roughly €1B, and Airbus, which retains 66 military Ka-band satellites for secure communications.
• Iris2 is the EU's answer to Starlink, meant to give European governments and militaries a sovereign, encrypted satellite network; its total budget has grown to €15.6B, up about 50% from earlier estimates.
• The EU Commission and operator consortium SpaceRISE (Eutelsat, SES, Hispasat) signed an implementation agreement on August 7, 2026 sizing the constellation at 348 satellites, with first launches targeted for 2029.
• Losing the bulk of a flagship sovereign-infrastructure contract to a six-year-old startup signals that Europe's space industry is starting to favor high-volume, factory-built smallsat manufacturing over legacy aerospace prime contractors.