ESA Space Safety programme gains major funding increase

by Erica Marchand
Paris, France (SPX) Nov 28, 2025

European Space Agency member states have approved 955 million euros for the agency's Space Safety programme for the next three years, about 30 percent more than the previous funding level and above the amount requested in the CM25 proposal. The allocation represents roughly 4 percent of ESA's total budget over the same period and fully finances the programme's planned activities, including the Ramses asteroid mission, the Vigil space weather observatory and new debris-removal and in-orbit servicing projects.

Holger Krag, Head of Space Safety at ESA, described the outcome as a strong signal that member states see space safety capabilities as essential under current geopolitical conditions. He said the new subscriptions allow the programme to plan the coming three years with confidence and to push European capabilities in areas such as debris mitigation, planetary defence and secure access to critical space data.

The Space Safety portfolio is structured around three Cornerstone mission lines: Planetary Defence, Space Weather and Active Debris Removal and In-Orbit Servicing, known collectively as ADRIOS. These flagships sit alongside a set of smaller activities grouped under the COSMIC umbrella, which covers technology development, service demonstrations and mission preparation across debris, planetary defence, space weather and sustainability.

Under Planetary Defence, the new funding gives the go-ahead to Ramses, a joint ESA - JAXA mission that must meet a tight schedule to rendezvous with asteroid Apophis during its exceptionally close pass by Earth in 2029. Ramses is planned to fly alongside Apophis and return detailed measurements and imagery during the encounter, using the rare opportunity to study changes in the asteroid's orbit and physical properties as it passes through Earth's gravitational environment.

Space weather activities are led by Vigil, a spacecraft planned for the Sun - Earth Lagrange point L5 that will provide continuous monitoring of solar activity with an oblique view of the Sun - Earth line. The mission is intended to deliver early warnings of coronal mass ejections and other events that could disrupt satellites, power grids and communication systems, complementing data from existing space weather assets operated by ESA, NASA, NOAA and other partners.

Within the ADRIOS line, ESA is advancing technologies and missions intended to remove debris and provide on-orbit servicing capabilities such as refuelling, inspection, refurbishment and life extension. A new mission known as CAT, centred on a standardised payload bay and docking interface, has been initiated to demonstrate capture and servicing techniques in orbit, while the previously selected RISE mission extender is being carried forward toward launch later this decade to dock with a client spacecraft in geostationary orbit.

The COSMIC umbrella received what ESA described as strong financial backing, enabling several new or expanded projects in debris, space weather and planetary defence. These include optical systems intended to detect very small debris objects from space and improved tools for collision-risk estimation and mitigation, which together aim to refine the modelling of the near-Earth orbital environment and support safer satellite operations.

Space Safety activities also cover ground-based and space-based assets for discovering and tracking near-Earth objects, including telescopes designed for wide-field surveys. ESA's plans for Flyeye survey telescopes, which split the field of view into multiple sub-images to scan for new objects, continue within this framework, with sites in Europe and South America discussed as part of a global search network for potentially hazardous asteroids.

The broader ESA budget agreed at CM25 sets the context for Space Safety's expansion, with 22.1 billion euros in total subscriptions across all programmes over three years and a reported 32 percent increase compared with the previous ministerial. Within this package, Space Safety's share is positioned alongside major commitments to launchers, Earth observation, exploration and commercialisation initiatives, reflecting a move to integrate protection from space hazards into Europe's wider space infrastructure and economic strategy.

Hera, ESA's mission to the Didymos binary asteroid system, and other previously approved planetary defence and reentry missions sit alongside the new activities and continue on their current development paths under the updated budget. ESA officials indicated that the stronger funding profile should help keep these missions on schedule and support follow-on systems as Europe scales up its operational capabilities in debris management, space weather services and asteroid monitoring.