This year, Europe took major steps to break out on its own in space, including investing in sovereign tech, forging new relationships, and gaining an appreciation for dual-use hardware.
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- Big bucks: European companies closed many fundraising deals in 2025, including a €1.35B ($1.57B) raise by Eutelsat (backed in large part by the French government), EnduroSat’s $100M+ (€85.2M) round, and Aerospacelab’s €94M ($109.4M) Series B. Read more here on what’s driving the record fundraising environment.
- Space Act: The European Commission released its long-awaited draft of the EU Space Act in June. The proposal quickly drew criticism from both sides of the Atlantic—and it’s something we dug into more in our first European webinar.
- Big picture: ESA contributing states approved €22.07B ($25.69B) in commitments covering the next three years of agency operations—the highest funding level in the history of the agency. ESA also unveiled its Technology 2040 report this year, which set the roadmap for Europe’s next 15 years in space.
- Blast off: It wasn’t a robust year for European launch, as many startups aiming to take flight for the first time in 2025 pushed their timelines to the right. However, that’s not stopping customers from booking flights on unproven rockets—or ESA from investing in new sovereign launch hardware.
- Fold it in: UKSA was folded into the UK Government’s Department of Science, Innovation, and Technology. While the move created an immediate stir in the industry, insiders overwhelmingly told Payload that the shift shouldn’t cause much change—at least in the short term.
