Agence spatiale européenne
The European Space Agency (ESA) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to space exploration, with 22 member states. Founded in 1975, ESA shapes Europe's space capabilities, ensuring investments in space deliver benefits to European citizens, working across the entire space sector. ESA develops and operates Earth observation, navigation, telecommunications, and astronomy satellites and sends probes to explore the solar system, partnering with agencies like NASA, JAXA and commercial partners like Airbus. Key programs include the development of launch vehicles like Ariane and Vega, the Galileo satellite navigation system, and missions like Rosetta and BepiColombo.
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ESA selected five companies to advance in the European Launcher Challenge on July 7, 2025: Isar Aerospace, MaiaSpace, Orbex, PLD Space, and Rocket Factory Augsburg.
ESA received 12 proposals for the European Launcher Challenge.
ESA and the European Commission contracted SpaceX to launch science and navigation satellites on Falcon 9 because of Europe’s launcher shortfall.
The DLR will conduct the SOLIS100 study in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA).
ESA launched the European Launcher Challenge to offer funding for companies developing smaller launch vehicles and upgraded vehicles for institutional payloads.
IRIS² is a secure connectivity constellation developed by the European Commission, ESA, and private industry.
ESA and the European Commission used SpaceX Falcon 9 to launch European science and navigation satellites during the launcher gap.
ESA launched the European Launcher Challenge to offer funding for companies developing smaller launch vehicles and upgraded vehicles, with selected companies potentially receiving up to €169 million each.
ESA selected five companies to advance on July 7: Isar Aerospace, MaiaSpace, Orbex, PLD Space, and Rocket Factory Augsburg.
Rocket Factory Augsburg proposed to ESA both launches of RFA ONE and development of an upgraded Block 2 version with increased payload capacity.
The MTG series is developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) on behalf of the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).
The BIOMASS team at DLR generated the first radar image from the ESA Earth observation satellite BIOMASS, marking it as the first focused SAR image in the P-band taken from space.
BIOMASS is the first space-based mission in the P-band and the first fully polarimetric ESA mission.
DLR supported ESA throughout all mission phases with the development of key algorithms for calibration, ionospheric correction, and forest biomass measurement using polarimetric SAR interferometry and tomography.
The BIOMASS satellite was launched on April 29, 2025, from the spaceport in French Guiana as the seventh Earth Explorer mission by ESA.
Initial data sets from the first radar acquisition were transmitted to Earth on the same day and appeared on ESA ground station servers at ESRIN near Rome a few hours later.
The proposed cuts to NASA's budget impact ESA's planning as it prepares for its next ministerial conference in late November.
Three of the ESA-led missions face problems due to NASA's budget proposal: the Envision mission to Venus, the LISA gravitational wave observatory, and the New Athena X-ray telescope.
The NASA budget proposal would terminate ESA's service module for the Orion spacecraft after Artemis 3.
ESA's current plans aim for about 23 billion euros for the next three years, a significant increase from the last approved amount of 17 billion euros.