ESA Extends 13 Science Missions and Awards Sentinel-1 Next Generation Contract
ESA’s Science Programme Committee delivered a double dose of news at its meeting in Tenerife this week: a sweeping extension of operating science missions and a major contract award for the next generation of Europe’s workhorse radar satellites.
13 missions extended
All 13 ESA science missions whose operational phase was due to end before the close of 2026 have been approved for extension. The list spans the full breadth of ESA’s science fleet:
- Solar System explorers: BepiColombo (Mercury), Mars Express, Solar Orbiter (with special emphasis on continued polar observations)
- Exoplanet and stellar missions: Cheops, Einstein Probe
- Heliophysics: Cluster, Hinode, IRIS, Proba-3, SOHO
- Astrophysics: Hubble, Webb, XMM-Newton, XRISM
The decision ensures continuity for some of ESA’s longest-running missions. Mars Express, launched in 2003, continues to return data from the red planet alongside the newer BepiColombo, which entered Mercury orbit in late 2025. Solar Orbiter’s extension allows continued study of the Sun’s polar regions, a capability no other spacecraft can match.
Professor Carole Mundell, ESA’s Director of Science, described the extensions as a “cost-effective way to maximize scientific return from missions that are still delivering cutting-edge results.”
€700M contract for Sentinel-1 Next Generation
Alongside the mission extensions, ESA awarded Thales Alenia Space the contract to build two Sentinel-1 Next Generation (NG) satellites, with Airbus Defence and Space providing the radar payloads. The first tranche is valued at €700 million ($807 million); Airbus’s radar payload contract is worth €345 million.
Sentinel-1 NG represents a significant upgrade over the current Sentinel-1 fleet. The new satellites will deliver improved geometric resolution of 5 by 5 meters (versus the current 5 by 20 meters), a wider 400-kilometer swath (up from 250 kilometers), and active beam steering for better polar observation.
The current constellation consists of Sentinel-1A, -1C, and -1D in service (Sentinel-1B malfunctioned in late 2021). Sentinel-1C launched in December 2024, and Sentinel-1D followed in November 2025. The next-generation satellites are not expected to launch until the early 2030s, with Airbus projecting a first launch in 2034.
The Sentinel series forms the radar backbone of the Copernicus Earth observation program, Europe’s largest civilian space initiative. Continuity of C-band SAR observations is considered critical for monitoring ice sheets, oil spills, land subsidence, crop health, and disaster response.
Coinciding with Arrakihs adoption
The same SPC meeting formally adopted the Arrakihs galactic archaeology mission, ESA’s second fast-class (F-class) mission. Planned for launch by the end of 2030, Arrakihs will study faint stellar haloes around nearby galaxies to understand how galaxies like the Milky Way form and evolve. The rapid adoption — less than four years from selection to formal commitment — showcases the flexibility of ESA’s F-class program.
The three announcements together paint a picture of an agency balancing operational continuity (mission extensions), infrastructure modernization (Sentinel-1 NG), and ambitious new science (Arrakihs) within constrained budgets.