Recently, the Trump administration of the United States has repeatedly threatened to cut off military aid to Ukraine, especially to shut down the "Starlink" satellite Internet communication service to the Ukrainian army. This has made many European countries pay more attention to supporting local satellite Internet service providers and accelerate the search for local alternatives to "Starlink". Whether Europe can achieve strategic autonomy in the space field as it wishes has attracted external attention.

  Autonomous demand for autonomy is urgent

  Recently, many European countries have reached strategic consensus on accelerating the creation of the European version of "Starlink", which is the result of the joint action of multiple factors.

  "Starlink"'s strategic asset status is becoming increasingly prominent. "Starlink" is a satellite Internet system with the characteristics of "low latency + large-scale global coverage". Relying on the core function of communication, it has played an important role in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Recently, the Trump administration in the United States has put pressure on Ukraine on obtaining key mineral mining rights, threatening to no longer provide Ukraine with "Starlink" satellite Internet services. Foreign media believe that relying on the real-time command and data transmission of "Starlink", Ukrainian military drones can quickly and accurately lock targets, and the loss of "Starlink" will have a great impact on Ukraine's military operations.

  The drastic changes in transatlantic relations were the fuse. Europe has long relied on the United States and NATO in key military technologies and even strategic security. After Trump came to power again, U.S.-European relations deteriorated rapidly. Recently, European media disclosed that the United States may achieve "one-click shutdown" of F-35 fighter jets equipped with European allies through the built-in logistics information system of the F-35 fighter jets. This incident seems to have nothing to do with the European version of the "Starlink" concept, but the logic behind it is completely consistent: the severe reality makes European countries realize that cutting-edge technology and equipment from the United States are not shields to ensure European security, but more like a "Trojan horse". The risk of Europe being "bottled" in the military field is getting higher and higher.

  The fierce competition in the space field is a catalyst. The International Telecommunication Union follows the principle of "first landing, first occupying, first occupying, and always obtaining" in the acquisition of orbital and frequency band resources. Low-Earth orbit space is limited and can only accommodate about 60,000 low-orbit satellites. It has now become a new strategic highland that countries are competing for. The "Starlink" satellite launched by SpaceX is basically concentrated in low-Earth orbits of 340 to 550 kilometers. The company is trying to seize the initiative in development and monopolize strategic resources. Amazon and Iridium Satellite Communications Corporation in the United States have also planned and started to implement the launch volume of thousands of units. In order to compete for the right to speak in international space affairs, many European countries have formulated a series of space security policies.

  The shortcomings of projects under research are obvious

  In December 2024, the EU launched the largest space program in 10 years - the Satellite Resilience, Connectivity and Security Infrastructure Program (IRIS²), another space program launched by the EU after the Copernican Earth Observation Program and the Galileo Satellite Navigation Program. Previously, OneWeb, headquartered in the UK and Rivada Space Network, headquartered in Germany, also launched their respective satellite Internet plans. The above-mentioned satellite Internet plan has become an important support for promoting the European version of "Starlink". However, the European version of Starlink has a big gap with the US Starlink in terms of construction scale, coverage density, network capacity and user orientation.

  OneWeb has the earliest satellite Internet project layout, claiming to build a global satellite Internet network, but only 648 low-Earth orbit satellites are planned to be deployed (about 630 have been deployed). Its satellite orbit is about 1,200 kilometers, which is higher than the altitude of the "Starlink" satellite, which can easily lead to problems such as increasing time delay and high terminal costs. Each terminal is priced at $5,000 to $10,000, and satellite launches are heavily dependent on SpaceX. The satellite Internet project led by Germany is also not optimistic: it plans to launch 600 satellites with a deployment altitude of about 1,200 kilometers, and the official time delay data is up to 150 milliseconds. This means that neither of the above projects can meet the needs of large-scale users for high-speed network access.

  The IRIS² project, which is led by the EU and highly anticipated, is also difficult to match Starlink in terms of capacity, coverage density and network latency. The project invests more than 10 billion euros and plans to deploy 290 satellites around 2030, and will use three orbits: a medium-Earth orbit more than 6,000 kilometers away from the earth, a low-Earth orbit more than 500 kilometers and a near-Earth low-Earth orbit up to 400 kilometers. The project has a clear government-led color, mainly aimed at government and enterprise users in the strategic security field, rather than ordinary people, and has poor business competitiveness.

  Deep constraints are hard to overcome

  Some media said that Europe's above-mentioned projects are not enough to get rid of the passive situation of being controlled by people in the space field. In fact, problems such as the number of satellites and orbital positions in Europe are just appearances. The structural contradictions that are really difficult to eliminate are the long-term shortcomings of Europe in multiple levels such as macro strategy, financing models, and market choices.

  Europe lacks effective strategic planning in the field of space. Taking OneWeb's satellite Internet project as an example, the development direction has been repeated many times and investment efficiency is inefficient. From the initial goal of serving the public Internet, it has gradually narrowed to the government-enterprise private network market. The EU has formed the initial version of the IRIS² project in its proposal for the "Security Connection Plan 2023-2027", but it was shelved for two years due to the difficulty of reaching a consensus on the needs of each member state, missing a valuable time window. It has since been hindered by taking into account the interests of many countries, and has made slow progress in satellite manufacturing and ground station layout. In addition, Europe has focused its aerospace development on the fields of geostationary orbit communication satellites and navigation satellites for many years, and the technical reserves and manufacturing capabilities of large-scale and low-cost Internet satellites are obviously insufficient.

  European satellite Internet projects are subject to multiple restrictions on financing channels and commercial monetization. Unlike the strong private capital behind Starlink and the long-term funding of the US government, the European satellite Internet project has encountered multiple obstacles. OneWeb's satellite Internet project was on the verge of bankruptcy due to a broken capital chain, and it barely survived with the British government's emergency rescue and the acquisition of French satellite company Eutelsat. Germany's satellite Internet project mainly relies on private investment and bank loans, with unclear business returns and high risk of breaking the capital chain.

  The European local market itself is unique: fixed broadband and mobile network infrastructure are developed, and traditional telecommunications companies have strong market power. The mass market space is squeezed, and the European satellite Internet project can only turn its attention to market segments such as government, military, shipping, aviation, and remote regional communications. This strategic positioning will further limit the scale of the project and the return on funds.

  Comments believe that the European version of Starlink is unable to compete head-on with the US Starlink or even de-Americanization, which is more like Europe's guaranteed way to prevent the US from turning against each other.