Sweden’s Space Spending Aims to Boost NATO Capabilities
The Swedish Armed Forces allocated 1.3B Swedish Kronor (€121.4M) to purchase 10 surveillance satellites, split between Planet and ICEYE.
Europe
Stories on the European space industry
ESA Calls for EO Companies to Join the Insurance Game
EO and analytics companies stand to benefit from ESA support and funding in helping to bring an insurance solution to the market.
Exclusive: Orbital Paradigm Emerges as the Lone Survivor of Failed PSLV Launch
Despite ISRO’s PSLV failing during launch, Orbital Paradigm’s KID reentry vehicle survived long enough to transmit valuable data.
ESA Outlines a Busy Year Ahead
In a press conference at ESA HQ in Paris, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher laid out the agency’s plan for 2026.
Op-Ed: Space Trends to Watch in 2026
2026 has a chance to become an inflection point where commercial expansion, AI integration, and sovereign partnerships could collide to redefine what the next decade of space looks like.
Top 5 of 2025: Europe
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.
2025 Europe in Review
We built a word cloud based on the 100+ stories Payload ran on the European space industry this year, and one theme jumped out immediately: a lot of forward-looking language.
ICEYE, Rheinmetall Land €1.7B German Defense Contract
The joint venture owned by Finnish EO firm ICEYE and German arms maker Rheinmetall has turned on its money-printing machine.
PLD Space Outlines its Plans for €169M in ELC Funds
The real value of the ELC, according to Raúl Verdú, PLD’s chief business development officer, is the doors the challenge opens for PLD to extract knowledge from ESA.
SatVu Plans to Target Data Center Market with HotSat-2
Even without a satellite in orbit, SatVu is giving investors a behind-the-scenes look at hot spots they’re going to be tracking in the future.
Norwegian, German Firms Partner on New Defense Sats
The two companies announced plans this week to build a sovereign ISR and communications constellation with the goal of deploying by 2029.
VC Investors Plan for a Rich Space Future in London
The inaugural Space Investment Conference kicked off in London this week, bringing together founders and investors to discuss the financial future of the space industry—which now has more money than ever.