The year 2025 in space has been marked by the arrival of the interstellar comet 3I/Atlas to the Solar System, the launch of satellites SpainSat OF I y II de Hisdesat or the increase in the budget of the European Space Agency (ESA).
2025 began with the launch of the satellite in January SpainSat OF Iwhich provides secure communications to the Spanish Armed Forces, from Cape Canaveral (Florida) by Elon Musk’s company, Space X.
Six months later, the Ministry of Defense announced that the SpainSat NG I satellite was ending its full entry into service and revealed the old Xtar-EUR, which had been in orbit for more than 20 years.
Later it was the turn of the SpainSat NG II launch on October 24, with which Spain completed the space project “most ambitious in its history“, also from Cape Canaveral.
With the launch of SpainSat NG II, the constellation of the Spainsat NG Program is completed, considered “the most ambitious space project in the history of Spain, both for its technological complexity as well as the level of participation of the national industry“.
Los SpainSat OF I y II son the most advanced satellites secure communications networks in Europe and are among the most innovative in the world.
It is planned that in the spring of 2026 they will jointly serve the Spanish Armed Forces, international organizations such as the European Commission in the GOVSATCOM program, or NATO, and other governments of allied countries.
The twin satellites will serve two-thirds of the Earth, from United States to Singaporeplacing Spain at the global forefront of development and innovation in the space field.
In depth
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At the beginning of the year, Spain, through the Spanish Space Agency (ESA), signed with the European Commission its accession to the ISOS (In-Space Operations and Services) pilot mission, a strategic initiative of the European Union to train the European industry in operations and services that create a sustainable space environment.
This project seeks to develop and demonstrate essential components for in-orbit servicespromoting sustainability in the space environment, while enhancing the resilience and competitiveness of European space infrastructure.
The mission, whose estimated budget is 500 million euros and whose full deployment is scheduled for 2030, responds to the growing need to create a safe, resilient and sustainable space environment, enhancing space debris removal services, maintenance, assembly and logistics of space infrastructure, strengthening the strategic autonomy of the EU.
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2025 has also been marked by the visit to the Solar System of the interstellar comet 3I/Atlas, which came closer than ever to Earth on December 19, when it was located at a distance of about 270 million kilometers, that is, approximately 1.8 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
The director of the European Space Agency (ESA), Josef Aschbacher, rejected the “speculations” that have arisen around the interstellar comet 3I/Atlas that travels through the interior of the solar system.
“We have observed it very well and I can assure you that they are not aliens, it is not what some speculations believe it is. It is a comet that moves at very high speed and is passing through our solar system. “We have measured it, we are observing it and we know very well what is happening.”Aschbacher settled in an interview with Europa Press.
The interstellar comet 3I/Atlas has a nucleus estimated between 10 and 30 kilometers in diameter, travels at a speed greater than 68 km/s (about 245,000 km/h) during its passage through the interior of the solar system and its orbit is hyperbolic (it does not belong to the solar system).
These comets are absolutely strange. All planets, moons, asteroids, comets and life forms in our Solar System share a common origin. But Interstellar comets are true outsiders, carrying clues to the formation of worlds far beyond our own..
3I/Atlas (C/2025 N1) is the third confirmed object from outside the solar system. It was discovered on July 1, 2025 by the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) network in Chile. Its study allows us to observe material that formed in another star system.
To take into account
The month of November ended with a historic agreement for the European Space Agency: Member States agreed to the largest contributions to ESA for a total of €22.1 billion during the Ministerial Council held in Bremen (Germany).
Ministers and senior representatives of the 23 Member States, Associate Members and Cooperating States confirmed their support for key Science, Exploration and Technology programmes, along with a significant increase in the budget for space applications: Earth Observation, Navigation and Telecommunications, as reported by ESA.
Spain ranked as the fourth largest contributor to ESA programs along with Germany, France and Italy, having acquired new commitments valued at 1,854 million euros for the period 2026-2030.
In this way, Spain becomes for the first time in history in the fourth largest ESA contributor country ahead of countries such as the United Kingdom, Belgium or Switzerland.
The 1,854 million euros in new commitments acquired by Spain represent 8.46% of the total investment that the 23 ESA countries will make during the period 2026-2030 and represents a budget increase of more than 50% compared to the Ministerial Council held in 2022increasing the average annual contribution from 300 to 455 million euros.
In 2025, ESA has launched a total of 46 missions and/or satellites. The last successfully completed mission was the launch of two Galileo satellites (SAT 33 and SAT 34) aboard an Ariane 6 rocket from the European Spaceport in French Guiana. It was Galileo’s first launch aboard an Ariane 6 and the fifth by the European heavy-lift launcher.
2026, new year
The year 2026 will also be marked by different milestones related to space, since it will be the year in which the trio of eclipses that Spain will experience until 2028 will begin, the first flight of the Spanish Miura 5 rocket from PLD Space or the launch of the Artemis II mission in which NASA will send four astronauts around the Moon, the scene of future missions.
Spain will soon witness a series of solar eclipses that, in several cases, will be visible from large areas of the national territory. There will be two total eclipses in 2026 and 2027and an annular eclipse in 2028, setting up an exceptional astronomical calendar for the coming years.
The latter is dangerous for eyesight and can cause permanent eye damage if we look at it without adequate protection. Despite the decrease in light, The Sun continues to emit intense UV and infrared radiation that can burn the retina, without causing pain, leading to loss of central vision, blind spots…
Of all of them, the total eclipse of August 12, 2026 will undoubtedly be the most spectacular, not only because of its rarity – the first visible from Spain in more than a century -, but because of the breadth of areas from which it can be observed throughout the Peninsula.
PLD Space presented the first integrated unit of the Miura 5, the qualification model 1 (QM1), in November, which marks a “decisive advance in the validation campaign of the orbital launcher.” This will allow “complete testing of entire rocket subsystems, such as the first and second stages, under real-world conditionswith the aim of reducing the risk in flight as much as possible and guaranteeing the reliability of the vehicle before its first mission in 2026.”
