ESA's highlights for 2026

Once again, ESRIN in Italy will open its doors for European Researchers’ Night, presenting launchers, Earth observation, high-powered computing, innovation, and everything ESA does.

Previous editions: ESA - ESA Open Days 2025

Europe's Space and Technology Research Centre hosts its annual open days, with the first being for people with disabilities, and the second open to all. Registrations book out quickly!

Previous editions: ESA Open Days 2025

Juice will capture some energy from Earth as it continues its journey to Jupiter to characterise Jupiter's ocean-bearing icy moons – Ganymede, Europa and Callisto.

Previous editions: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Juice

Field training for astronauts in analogue environments for the Moon and Mars, developing skills for geology and astrobiology.

More information: https://www.esa.int/articles/what-is-pangaea

Q3

A significant milestone in the development of ESA's reusable space vehicle, a system drop-test campaign of Space Rider will feature a full mockup of the reentry module that will have the same weight, aerodynamic shape and landing gears as the real thing will demonstrate the overall landing and touchdown.

More information: ESA - Space Rider

The second of the Meteosat Third Generation – Imager fleet will be renamed Meteosat-14 after commissioning. Scheduled for launch with an Ariane 6 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

More information: ESA - meteosat third generation

Expected return of Sophie Adenot

Following an agreement signed between the Portuguese Space Agency and ESA, initial work will take place on the development of a space hub on the Santa Maria island of the Azores, Portugal, including the construction of facilities for a Space Rider landing site.

Date, registration and opening hours to be announced.

Europe's Science and Astronomy Centre will welcome guests once again to marvel at the wonders of the Universe.

Previous editions: ESA Open Days 2025

With the tagline ‘The World Needs More Space’, IAC will convene for its 77th congress at the NEST Convention Centre.

More information: IAC 2026

Date, registration and opening hours to be announced.

Previous editions: ESA - ESA Open Days 2025

The 20 ESPI Autumn Conference, offering informed and in-depth space-related discussions among European and international stakeholders.

More information: https://www.espi.eu/

Media information session to follow. Registration and connection details will be sent by ESA media relations.

The Euclid space telescope is mapping the large-scale structure of the Universe across by observing billions of galaxies, exploring how the Universe has expanded and how structure has formed over cosmic history, revealing more about the role of gravity and the nature of dark energy and dark matter.

More information: Euclid - ESA Science Programme

Annual meeting of the Conference of the Parties - the decision-making body of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Space engineering and technology business to business fair.

More information: https://www.spacetechexpo-europe.com/

November

BepiColombo will be the second and most complex mission to orbit Mercury. The Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Mio) will be captured in the orbit of Mercury after a series of manoeuvres. This key event is crucial for the scientific success of the mission. Routine science operations will begin in 2027, opening the door to new evidence about the history of the entire Solar System.

More information: ESA - BepiColombo

To be followed by a media information session. Registration and connection details will be sent out by ESA media relations.

ESA Council, Rome

To be followed by a media information session. Registration and connection details will be sent out by ESA media relations.

This will be a landmark moment in astrometry. Around 500 TB of new data will be released - data will be published for all processed sources, which amount to some 2.7 billion sources in total. Includes some data product types that have never been published before.

More information: Gaia - ESA Science Programme

Q4

Following the first of the MetOp Second Generation launched in August 2025, MetOp-SG B1 is scheduled for launch, like its sibling, also on board an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

More information: ESA - MetOp Second Generation

Q4

Launch of Galileo satellites 35 and 36 on Ariane 6 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

More information: ESA - Galileo

Plato mission – ready for launch

ESA’s mission Plato, PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars, will use its 26 cameras to study terrestrial exoplanets in orbits up to the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. The mission will measure the sizes of exoplanets and discover exomoons and rings around them. The launch will be on board an Ariane 6 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

More information: ESA - Plato

The network of Flyeye telescopes will help monitor the skies for potentially dangerous asteroids.

More information: ESA - Flyeye: ESA’s bug-eyed asteroid hunters

Hera arrives at Dimorphos

Q4

ESA's Hera spacecraft will inspect the kinetic impact made by NASA's Dart mission on Dimorphos, the smaller body of the binary Didymos system. It will also release two CubeSats - Milani, developed by an Italian/Czech/Finnish consortium, and Juventas, developed by Danish company GomSpace and GMV in Romania.

More information: ESA - Hera mission overview

ESA's Science Programme Committee will announce the decision on selection for the medium mission (M7) launch opportunity from candidate missions M-Matisse, Plasma Observatory and Theseus.

More information: ESA - Final three for ESA’s next medium science mission

Speak to ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot in her last European media event before launch on her long-duration εpsilon mission to the International Space Station. Sophie will be joined by Director General Josef Aschbacher and Director of Human and Robotic Exploration Daniel Neuenschwander for a Q&A session in English and French. The press conference will also be webcast.

More information: Register by 18 December ESA - Media invitation: Press conference with ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher will present upcoming highlights and answer media questions. A webcast and replay will be available on the ESA website.

To register: ESA - Media Invitation: ESA Director General’s Annual Press Briefing

Space will again be on the agenda during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum under the theme ‘A Spirit of Dialogue’.

More information: https://www.weforum.org/meetings/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2026/

European Union officials, European ministers and senior space agency figures meet in Brussels to debate some of the biggest issues in space policy and the space industry.

More information: 18th European Space Conference – Meet the leaders shaping Europe's future

As Ariane 6 ramps up its launch cadence, this year will see the debut of the Ariane 64 version. Ariane 6 is available in two versions depending on the performance required: a version with two boosters, called Ariane 62; and Ariane 64 with four boosters. Ariane 64 can launch payloads of approximately 11.5 tonnes into geostationary transfer orbit and 21.6 tonnes into low Earth orbit.

More information: https://www.esa.int/articles/about-us/directorates/space-transportation/launch-vehicles/ariane-6-overview

ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot from France will join the Crew 12 launch on board the Dragon capsule. Her εpsilon mission is expected to last six months, during which additional activities such as inflight calls will be announced to media as they become available.

More information: ESA - Human and Robotic Exploration

Phi-Lab Ireland launch

13 February

The official launch of Phi-Lab Ireland along with the second open call. ESA Phi-Lab Ireland is a consortium of Irish Manufacturing Research and the AMBER Research Centre at Trinity College Dublin and funded by the European Space Agency and Enterprise Ireland.

More information: https://www.esaphilab.ie/ , https://commercialisation.esa.int/phi-labnet/

Pressing issues in international security policy will be discussed at the 62nd Munich Security Conference.

More information: https://securityconference.org/en/

Following funding commitments at ESA's Ministerial Council in November 2025, the second stage tendering process will open with a view to frame contract signature later in 2026.

More information: ESA - European Launcher Challenge

Conference bringing together agencies in space and defence domains alongside space industry participants.

More information: Amsterdam Space Symposium

Annual space commercialisation and investors’ event.

More information: Home - Space-Comm Expo

Hera deep space manoeuvre

February-March

In preparation for arrival at the Didymos system in November, Hera will undergo a deep space manoeuvre in February, and an 'impulsive rendezvous' in October.

More information: ESA - Hera mission overview

Post-council media information session to follow. Registration details and connections for those attending remotely will be sent by ESA media relations.

The Munich Space Summit merges two of Munich’s most recognised space events into one platform: the Munich Satellite Navigation Summit and the Munich New Space Summit.

More information: https://www.munich-space-summit.org

LEO-PNT Celeste launch, New Zealand

This is the first launch of the Celeste demonstrator mission that will feature a 10-satellite constellation to assess how a low Earth orbit fleet can work in combination with Galileo, EGNOS and other GNSS to increase overall resilience and robustness in positioning, navigation and timing.

More information: ESA - Celeste

Annual gathering of global space professionals.

More information: 41st Space Symposium - Registration is now open!

Last chance to see Europe's Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX), Sentinel-3C spacecraft and the Meteosat Third Generation Imager weather satellite (MTG-I2) before they are shipped for launch.

More information: ESA - FLEX, ESA - Sentinel-3, ESA-MTG-I2

No earlier than April

Four astronauts will embark on a circumlunar mission, powered by the Space Launch System and the European Service Module. Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, all from the United States, and Jeremy Hansen of Canada will crew the mission. They are expected to splash down back on Earth 10 days after launch. Media accreditation for the launch closed in December 2025, further media opportunities will be announced on ESA channels as they become available.

More information: ESA - Orion, https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Cyprus becomes an Associate Member

Following the signing of an Associate Agreement in October 2025, Cyprus becomes an ESA Associate Member, joining Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia.

More information: ESA - Cyprus joins European Space Agency as an Associate Member

Presentations and updates covering all disciplines of the Earth, planetary, and space science.

More information: https://egu26.eu/

The Solar Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (Smile) is a joint mission between ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Using X-ray and UV cameras, as well as particle and magnetic field detectors, Smile will give humankind its first complete look at how Earth reacts to streams of particles and bursts of radiation from the Sun. Launching on board a Vega-C.

More information: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Smile

Meet the team and the spacecraft that will hunt for rocky planets in the habitable zones of other stars. ESA’s Plato, PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars, will be in the final stages of preparation for launch on its mission to measure exoplanets and characterise their host stars.

More information: ESA - Plato

ECSITE annual conference, Gothenburg

2-4 June

Annual gathering of those working in or supporting the field of science engagement including science centres, museums, science festivals and universities.

More information: Ecsite - Conference

2nd IAF Global Space Conference on Climate Change (GLOC 2026), Kigali, Rwanda

Under the theme ‘Uniting Space and Earth for Climate Resilience’, GLOC2026 will address topics of interest in relation to space and climate change.

More information: The IAF Global Space Conference on Climate Change 2026

10-14 June

Biennial event bringing together aerospace and defence industries and their suppliers with multiple stages hosting dozens of speakers, and hundreds of exhibitors at the Berlin Expo Center next to Berlin Brandenburg Airport. There will be public days on 13 and 14 June, while the trade visitor days will take place from 10 to 12 June.

More information: ESA press release

Media information session expected to follow. Registration and connection information will be sent by ESA media relations team.

Euclid is a space survey mission dedicated to investigate the origin of the accelerating expansion of the Universe and the nature of dark energy, dark matter and gravity. Before the first data release in October, an interim data release will be made.

More information: Euclid - ESA Science Programme

ESA's astronaut reserve completes training, designed to equip participants with relevant technical and operational expertise for space missions, increasing their readiness to step into specific mission training quickly if required.

More information: ESA - The ART of training

Themis is set to be the first European demonstration of a full-scale vertical take-off and landing rocket element that uses cryogenic propulsion.

More information: ESA - Future space transportation, SALTO: Reusable strategic space launcher technologies & operations

ESA will be present at the Farnborough International Airshow in July. FIA2026 will bring together aerospace and defence operators for a week with the final day, 24 July, being open to the public under the title of ‘Pioneers of Tomorrow’.

More information: Farnborough International Airshow | Farnborough International Airshow

See Europe's low Earth orbit meteorological satellite in preparation for launch in Q4.

More information: ESA - MetOp Second Generation

Total solar eclipse visible Greenland, Iceland, north Atlantic, Spain, Portugal (Aveleda e Rio de Onor). Partial eclipse for Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Czechia, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia.

The last of the four Cluster spacecraft return from space. Cluster took on the challenge of uncovering how Earth’s magnetosphere responds to the solar wind. After two decades of scientific observations, the spacecraft are assisting long-term sustainability in space as operations scientists and engineers examine how four identical spacecraft re-enter and burn up under different conditions.

More information: ESA - Cluster

9-10 September

The summit will be held in Paris, at the Grand Palais.

One of ESA's Earth Explorer missions, the Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX) will yield information about the health of the world’s plants. The information gathered will be used to improve our understanding of how carbon moves between plants and the atmosphere and how photosynthesis affects the carbon and water cycles.

More information: ESA - FLEX

Separation of Mercury Transfer Module from the respective ESA and JAXA orbiters (Mercury Planetary Orbiter - MPO, and Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter -Mio), having delivered them safely to the vicinity of Mercury.

More information: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/BepiColombo

Sentinel-3C will launch on board a Vega-C from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

More information: ESA - Sentinel-3