2026 European Space for Sustainability Award winners
The 2026 European Space for Sustainability Award was presented to the first-place winner and special mention of the jury at the European Interparliamentary Space Conference plenary in September.
The European Space Agency (ESA), the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) and the European Interparliamentary Space Conference (EISC) presented the 2026 European Space for Sustainability Award at the EISC plenary in Madrid, Spain, on 21 September. The competition, held annually since 2012, recognises original and forward-thinking ideas that connect space and sustainability.
The 2026 award went to Sara Fernández for her project, ‘CRMA-Watch: A Three-Tier Copernicus Compliance Protocol for Independent Environmental Monitoring of EU Critical Mineral Extraction Sites’.
Her study proposes using existing Copernicus satellite data to independently monitor whether critical raw material extraction and processing sites comply with EU environmental limits. The approach could complement periodic inspections by identifying possible environmental breaches and cross-checking satellite measurements against emissions reported by operators, without requiring new hardware or legislation.
Thomas Kalampoukas received the special mention of the jury for ‘CircularShift: Towards A Standardized Framework for Designing Circular Space Systems’.
His project proposes a practical framework for incorporating circularity into the design of sustainable space systems from the outset. It translates the broad policy objective of circularity into a usable engineering workflow by mapping circular technical features, turning them into measurable evaluation criteria and combining them into a decision-support tool for circular space systems.
Presenting their projects at the EISC plenary gave both recipients the opportunity to engage with representatives from across the European space sector. As the first-place winner, Sara Fernández will also receive a professional development package that includes a dedicated mentorship programme at ESA and a four-week research placement at ESPI in Vienna, Austria.
The European Space for Sustainability Award is an annual competition organised by ESA, ESPI and EISC to raise awareness and encourage ideas about how space can contribute to the sustainable development of Europe and the wider world.
The competition is open to individuals or small teams aged 18 to 30 who reside, study or work in an EU or ESA Member State. Entries can be submitted in two areas: research and development or business development. Both are assessed together, with one winner and one special mention of the jury selected each year.
For more information about the award and previous winners, visit the Space for Sustainability Award website.