ESA Targets 65 Launches in 2026, Prioritizing Science and Autonomy

The European Space Agency (ESA) has designated 2026 as one of the most ambitious and intense years in its operational history, signaling a significant strategic pivot in Europe's space policy. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher outlined four critical pillars for development: science, sustainability, security, and space exploration. Under this robust agenda, the agency is targeting an impressive 65 missions throughout the year, a substantial increase from the 46 launches successfully executed in 2025. The overall budget allocated to ESA for 2026 stands at 8.26 billion euros. Notably, approximately 30% of this funding, equating to 2.4 billion euros, is earmarked for Earth observation, underscoring the paramount importance placed on planetary and climate protection efforts.

The scientific roadmap for 2026 is packed with significant international collaborations. A cornerstone mission will be SMILE (Solar Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer), a joint venture developed in partnership with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The launch window for SMILE, designed to provide the first comprehensive view of how Earth reacts to solar wind streams, is set between April 8 and May 7, 2026. This mission will utilize a Vega-C rocket launching from the European spaceport in French Guiana. SMILE carries the torch from the long-running 24-year Cluster mission, aiming to deepen our understanding of space weather phenomena.

Further enriching the scientific portfolio, the joint ESA and JAXA BepiColombo mission, which began its journey in 2018, is scheduled to reach Mercury in November 2026. This will mark the spacecraft's successful orbital insertion around the planet following a complex series of gravitational maneuvers. Additionally, October 2026 is anticipated to bring the first major data release from the Euclid space telescope, promising new insights into the universe's dark components.

A crucial element in securing Europe's independent access to space will be the inaugural flight of the Ariane 64. This represents the most powerful configuration of the new European launch vehicle, equipped with four solid rocket boosters. This 2026 launch is slated to deploy a batch of satellites for Amazon's Project Kuiper, a massive broadband internet constellation, into low Earth orbit. Arianespace, the commercial launch operator, aims to execute between six and eight Ariane 6 launches in 2026, working diligently to ramp up launch cadence following the retirement of the Ariane 5. The Ariane 64 stands 63 meters tall and has a liftoff mass of 860 tons.

In the realm of planetary defense, the HERA probe is scheduled to arrive at the Didymos asteroid system in December 2026. The HERA mission will conduct a detailed post-impact analysis of the kinetic strike delivered by NASA's DART spacecraft onto Dimorphos, the asteroid's moon. This validation is essential for confirming the efficacy of European and international strategies for mitigating potential cosmic threats. Concurrently, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot is scheduled for her flight to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Epsilon mission, tentatively set for March 2026. Successfully navigating such a demanding schedule, which encompasses significant scientific milestones alongside critical infrastructure deployments, clearly demonstrates the agency's substantial operational and technical capabilities within the framework of ESA's broader strategy extending to 2040.