SAN FRANCISCO – European civil space leaders suggested expanding their flagship campaign to develop a secure communications constellation. IRIS² is a public-private partnership to provide secure, low-latency, resilient satellite communications for European military, civil and commercial applications. Technical MaturityLaurent Jaffart, European Space Agency connectivity and secure communication director, discussed plans to enhance underlying IRIS² technology. To increase resilience, ESA will ask member states for funding to support maturation of key technologies like low-cost, multi-orbit satellite communications terminals. IRIS² satellites linked with terrestrial communications infrastructure will act as 5G nodes that can be managed like terrestrial nodes.