EU's own satellite communication system now operational
Eight satellites from five different member states are currently being pooled as part of GOVSATCOM. The Commission hopes this is the first step towards less dependence on the US - whose own communication systems are a lot more mature. #EuropeNews
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/01/27/eu-now-has-its-own-secure-and-encrypted-satellite-communication-system-kubilius-saysOpen linkView original on lemmy.world246
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Note that they agreed on this almost a decade ago1. Whether or not it is about Trump, I am happy about greater independence for Europe, too! There is also Galileo (GPS alternative) and IRIS2 (for governmental, business, and private communication. Sort of an alternative to Starlink) and a few others out there2.
Footnotes
EUSPA; GOVSATCOM is one of the elements of the Global Strategy for the European Union's Foreign and Security Policy of June 2016. The Programme will contribute to the EU’s response to specific threats and will provide support to the EU Maritime Strategy and the EU Arctic Policy. ; https://www.euspa.europa.eu/eu-space-programme/secure-satcom/govsatcom. ↩
EU Space; https://eu-space.europa.eu/. ↩
Then it’s good timing
We should also stop using GPS, as that's controlled by US military.
Despite commonly using the term "GPS", people are usually not using GPS directly, but GNSS, which includes satellite systems from USA (GPS), Russia (GLONASS), China (BDS) and the EU (Galileo). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_navigation
Also GPS is oneway, so there is no way for the US to spy on people with it. They can however block regions as a form of sanctions, so you should never rely on it.
Not just block, but alter the coordinates, which is even more malicious.
Good point yeah
Not exactly, they can introduce some drift on clocks. Or send wrong orbital ephemeris. Most commercial receiver would probably stop tracking satellite signals introducing too much differences from the others
Don't they control majority od them?
GPS does not take data.
I mean, what are they gonna do? Mess with the atomic clocks and throw off everyone's ability to geolocate? Probably not, since then everyone would just move to the still-accurate signals from the European and Chinese equivalents.
...or do you just not understand how GPS works?
Well they might be able to fuck with the signal in a way similar to Selective Availability or turn off the signal entirely over a specific region? Can you rule that out? The current US government has no issues with breaking things even if it hurts their own citizens.
You will find this European satellite communication system quite operational . . . MuWuHAHAhahahahaaaaa
Canada is launching 146 LEOs in late 2026...or not, they are being launched by SpaceX, or not.
Has anyone found which eight satellites?