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   Paul Sutton (zleap@qoto.org)'s status on Wednesday, 18-Dec-2024 18:05:04 JST Paul Sutton

   in reply to

   • kravietz 🦇

   @kravietz o

   Given Trumps threat to NATO which could (or should that be the stroger WILL) leave EU countries at the mercy of other states, we need contingency plans so we are not relying on US military OR technology.

   I am not sure if Trump can order Musk to pull the off switch or that may happen given EU / UK plans on internet regulation but right now we seem very vulnerable.

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     kravietz 🦇 (kravietz@agora.echelon.pl)'s status on Wednesday, 18-Dec-2024 18:05:05 JST kravietz 🦇

     Here’s what the top business (!) media wrote about the EU IRIS2 project:

     Financial Times: Europe signs €10.6bn Iris² satellite deal in bid to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink.

     Bloomberg: EU to build own satellite internet system to replace Starlink.

     Which was in social media followed by ironic comparisons about how smart Starlink launched hundreds of satellites overnight for free using private money while stupid EU will launch a few for billions of taxpayer’s money (hyperbole intended). But if you actually go to check what IRIS2 is[^1]

     The IRIS² Satellite Constellation is the European Union’s third flagship, addressing long-term challenges of EU’s security, safety and resilience by offering enhanced connectivity services to governmental users.

     Is it comparable to Starlink? Not at all, but it’s actually very similar to anothet SpaceX project called Starshield[^2]

     Starshield leverages SpaceX’s Starlink technology and launch capability to support national security efforts. While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for government use.

     If you read on[^3] you will see that the scale and commercial success of Starshield is quite humble when compared to Starlink… simply because its business goals are completely different from Starlink.

     Interesting - why would US or EU governments procure their own dedicated communications systems when they could use much cheaper Baofeng walkie-talkies from China? Sheer stupidity and wasting of taxpayer’s money, isn’t it?

     Or, why would top US financial media mislead their readers into a comparison between apples and oranges, anyone? 🤔

     [^1]: https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/eu-space/iris2-secure-connectivity_en

     [^2]: https://www.spacex.com/starshield/

     [^3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starshield