Open Cosmos has put a number on its ambition to become a European provider of secure satellite communications: 192 spacecraft.
The scale disclosed on 5 October matters because ConnectedCosmos is no longer being presented only as a technology concept or spectrum position. The company now says more than 96 satellites will be in orbit by the end of 2028, with the full 192-satellite core delivering global coverage by 2030.
SpaceNews reported that chief executive Rafel Jordà Siquier said at least 50 of the first 96 spacecraft have already been built. That is a company claim rather than an independently verified production count, but it materially raises the credibility test. The question is shifting from whether Open Cosmos can design a network to whether it can finance, launch and operate one at commercial scale.
A constellation moves from concept to timetable
ConnectedCosmos combines Ka-band broadband, direct-to-device internet-of-things links and optical inter-satellite communications. Open Cosmos says the network will move imagery, video and other large data sets laterally through orbit, reducing reliance on terrestrial gateways and subsea cables.
The company’s announcement also commits to another launch before the end of 2026 and says discussions are advanced with several launch providers for missions between late 2026 and mid-2027. These are plans, not booked missions disclosed with firm dates.
There is, however, an operational starting point. A Rocket Lab Electron deployed the first two spacecraft into a 1,050-kilometre orbit on 22 January 2026. The Liechtenstein government confirmed that the launch satisfied an initial International Telecommunication Union milestone tied to the principality’s spectrum filings.
Why this is more than another broadband plan
Open Cosmos is not trying to replicate Starlink’s consumer model satellite for satellite. Its proposition is narrower: sovereign capacity for governments, institutions and commercial operators that care about data custody, resilient infrastructure and control over network operations.
The company’s potentially differentiating move is to connect its communications layer with its existing Earth-observation activity and DataCosmos analytics platform. If it works as described, a government customer could task a sensor, move the resulting data across the orbital mesh and receive an analysed product without depending on a separate foreign communications network.
That integration could support higher-value recurring services than selling satellite capacity alone. It could also make Open Cosmos a systems supplier to national constellations rather than merely the operator of one centrally owned fleet. Yet no public customer backlog, pricing model, contracted capacity or revenue forecast accompanied the 192-satellite disclosure. Commercial demand therefore remains less visible than the architecture.
Europe gains a second route to sovereignty
Europe already has Eutelsat’s operational OneWeb network and the publicly backed IRIS² programme. Eutelsat says OneWeb has more than 600 satellites, while the European Commission now describes IRIS² as a 348-satellite multi-orbit system. The latter is intended to supply secure public-sector connectivity and commercial services later this decade.
ConnectedCosmos does not make either system redundant. Instead, it adds competitive pressure and a possible complementary layer. Its smaller architecture could serve countries wanting nationally governed capacity, or provide specialist transport for Earth-observation and defence data. It may also become a supplier or federation partner to larger European programmes.
The competitive bar is rising. Reuters reported in September that Eutelsat had added 229 satellites to earlier OneWeb replenishment orders, taking planned Airbus production across recent orders to 669 spacecraft. Open Cosmos must therefore demonstrate not simply European credentials, but a service customers cannot buy more reliably from an incumbent.
Capital and spectrum reduce risk, but do not remove it
Two scarce inputs are already in place. Open Cosmos announced €300 million of funding on 14 September, led by Lightrock and supported by a broad investor group that includes the UK National Security Strategic Investment Fund. It also holds rights associated with Liechtenstein’s high-priority Ka-band filings; the regulator’s published decision shows that these rights come with conditions and continuing ITU milestones.
Neither asset guarantees an operating constellation. The company has not disclosed total programme cost, how much of the €300 million is earmarked for ConnectedCosmos, satellite mass or design life, terminal suppliers, insured launch contracts, or the minimum number of spacecraft required for a sellable service.
Launch and network integration are the real tests
Moving from two spacecraft to more than 96 by the end of 2028 implies deploying at least 94 additional satellites in a little over two years. Manufacturing one spacecraft a day, as Open Cosmos says its facilities can do, is only part of that equation. The programme also needs launch slots, multiple orbital planes, regulatory approvals, terminals, optical-link performance and network software to mature together.
The launch constraint is strategically awkward. A European sovereignty network that depends heavily on non-European rockets would still carry an external bottleneck. Rideshare missions can reduce cost, but may not deliver the orbital geometry required quickly enough. Dedicated launches improve control but increase deployment expense.
The 1,050-kilometre operating altitude also places a premium on reliable propulsion, collision avoidance and end-of-life disposal. Open Cosmos’s latest release does not provide a public debris-mitigation or replenishment plan for the full constellation.
Milestones that will separate infrastructure from ambition
The next evidence should be concrete: a confirmed 2026 launch, named launch providers for 2027, an independently observable production cadence, optical crosslink demonstrations, ground-terminal partners and anchor customers committing capacity.
Progress towards the end-2028 target will matter more than the headline figure of 192. If Open Cosmos can turn its spectrum, capital and vertically integrated manufacturing into a functioning service, Europe will gain a privately led connectivity platform with strategic relevance well beyond its satellite count. If launches or customer commitments lag, ConnectedCosmos risks joining the long list of well-financed constellations whose economics weakened before the network reached useful scale.