On Thursday 8 January, the Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), Josef Aschbacher, announced the launch of 65 missions and satellites in 2026, an all-time record.
“This year, we are planning to launch 65 new missions and satellites, compared with 46 last year. It’s an all-time record”, he explained at a press conference in Paris. 46 launches in 2025 were already a record for ESA.
While in 2025, 22 Earth observation satellites were launched, the target is 48 this year, including Sentinel 3C for Copernicus (in the 3rd quarter), 33 for IRIDE, the Italian Earth observation space programme for environmental monitoring, and 11 for Greece. This too will be an “absolute record” for the launch of Earth observation satellites, according to Mr Aschbacher.
In addition, the new Flyeye 1 telescope will begin operations in Sicily in May, and the HERA spacecraft should reach the asteroid Didymos in November (see EUROPE 13498/20). In addition, the Samba (C3) and Tango (C4) satellites on ESA’s Cluster mission are scheduled for atmospheric re-entry in August/September.
ESA will also continue to work on exploration and discovery, with 12 missions in the pipeline. Smile, which will study how the Earth reacts to the solar wind coming from the Sun, is due to be launched in the spring, and the manned mission to the Moon, Artemis, under NASA’s control, will also be launched in 2026. The Agency will launch the LEO-PNT (Low Earth Orbit Positioning, Navigation and Timing) satellite in the first half of 2026.
ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot is due to join the International Space Station on 15 February at the earliest, for a long-duration mission of six to eight months.
2026 will also see the continuation of autonomous access to space with the first flight of Ariane 6.4, a full-scale test for Space Rider and the continuation of the European Launch Challenge. The Agency will also continue its work on the ERS resilience programme (see EUROPE 13760/23).
Budget. To achieve all this, ESA’s budget for 2026 is €8.26 billion, with 64.2% of the funds coming from the Agency’s Member States for its programmes and activities, and 23.4% from the EU.
Cyprus is expected to formally become an associate member of the Agency in the second quarter (see EUROPE 13737/9). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)