News

The French space agency CNES and the Île-de-France region, which includes Paris, have partnered to launch a €1 million challenge focused on the use of artificial intelligence to analyse satellite data.

Europe has no shortage of talented engineers, researchers and entrepreneurs working in space, yet it continues to lag behind the US and China.

Budgets have been set, political priorities are shifting and several long-promised programs are moving from rhetoric to execution. Here is who and what will matter in the European arena in 2026.

After being left in the dust by Elon Musk’s low-cost, reusable rockets, Europe’s humbled space industry enters 2026 with a new determination to catch up with SpaceX.

South Korean launch services company INNOSPACE has signed a launch site use agreement with the Atlantic Spaceport Consortium (ASC), securing its first European launch base and further expanding its global launch footprint.

A team using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a new type of astronomical object – a starless, gas-rich, dark-matter cloud that is considered a 'relic' or remnant of early galaxy formation. Nicknamed 'Cloud-9,' this is the first confirmed detection of such an object in the Universe.

While 2025 saw the first attempt to launch a privately developed European rocket capable of reaching orbit, the flight ultimately failed. Despite this setback, the year also delivered several successes, including a substantial ramp-up in launch cadence for Ariane 6 and a solid year of flights for Vega C, following its successful return to flight in late 2024.

European Commissioner Andrius Kubilius, responsible for Defence and Space, is in Porto and Lisbon on 7 and 8 January for his first official visit to Portugal. The Commissioner will engage in several meetings and visits with leading defence and space Portuguese actors.

As space rapidly becomes an essential battlefield, Europe risks being left behind. Its current approach to the new space race — regulate first, compete later — is unlikely to help.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has confirmed a cybersecurity breach involving servers located outside its corporate network. This confirmation comes following threat actor claim that they had compromised ESA systems and stolen a large volume of internal data. While ESA maintains that only unclassified information was affected.

Berlin wants to remove a whole section of the EU rules covering environmental sustainability

When the European Space Agency announced its new three-year spending plan last month, two countries stood out for the increased size of their contributions.