On 19 March 2026, the European Space Agency (ESA) will host an Industry Information Day on the In‑Orbit Demonstration and Validation (IOD/IOV) and Technology Development activities in the frame of the European Resilience from Space for Earth Observation (ERS‑EO) Element 1 programme at ESA/ESTEC (and online). The event is intended for industrial and institutional entities with an interest in the programme.
The objective of the event is:
To increase awareness of the ERS‑EO In‑Orbit Demonstration and Validation (IOD/IOV) activities and of the ERS-EO Technology Development activities.
The European Resilience from Space for Earth Observation (ERS‑EO) Programme is designed to prepare and accelerate the future European Earth‑Observation Governmental Service (EOGS). Working closely with the European Union and ESA Member States, it supports Europe’s ambition to strengthen defence readiness and ensure access to resilient, autonomous, space‑based Earth‑observation capabilities.
The European Union plans to implement EOGS under the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), providing enhanced situational awareness to support preparedness, decision‑making, and the actions of the Union and its Member States in the fields of security and defence. It will deliver secure, reliable, timely, persistent and targeted space‑based Earth‑observation data, products and information, reinforcing existing and planned capabilities.
ERS‑EO Element 1 serves as the preparatory phase for EOGS. Guided by consolidated user needs defined under the responsibility of the European Commission, Element 1 aims to establish the foundations for the future programme. As part of this programme:
- In‑Orbit Demonstration and Validation (IOD/IOV) activities will provide targeted, short‑term in‑orbit experiments delivering early proof‑of‑concept ahead of the 2028 Ministerial Conference. These activities are organised into four thematics, which require further consolidation before potential adoption as operational features of the future system:
- A. IOD‑A: Low Luminance / Night Vision
- B. IOD‑B: Dynamic Satellite Tasking
- C. IOD‑C: Reduced information age (i.e. data latency from acquisition to product delivery)
- D. IOD‑D: Satellite Super Agility
- Technology Development activities will mature mission‑critical technologies for EOGS with the objective of reaching TRL 6 by 2028. Coordinated with wider ESA initiatives such as GSTP and TDE, these developments will address the immediate needs of the future EOGS Space Mission (EOGS‑SM). They will primarily focus on subsystem‑level integration and testing using components or units that have already reached sufficient maturity. The thematics under consideration cover platform, payload, secure links, security features and further areas across the space and ground segments.
The Industry Information Day will introduce the frame of the ERS‑EO Element 1 programme programme following discussions of the Implementation plan at the February PBEO, with focus on the IOD/IOV activities and the Technology Development activities. Bilateral meetings with ESA Executive will be organised on demand for on‑site participants.
Please note that, although registration for this event is open to stakeholders from all member states, procurement activities are restricted to entities from the Participating States which, by the time of the Contract award decision, will be a participating State in the ESA in Element 1 of the ERS-EO Programme. To date, these are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland - Canadian entities may also be eligible provided that the Arrangement between ESA and the Government of Canada regarding participation in the ERS-EO Programme has entered into force.
Day Schedule
The ERS-EO Information day will start at 09:00, in the Erasmus High-Bay at ESA/ESTEC and on Webex.
- The morning will be dedicated to presenting the upcoming ERS-EO activities.
- A buffet will be served for lunch.
- The afternoon will start with a general Q&A session, before moving to bilateral meetings with ESA Executives, located in meeting rooms in the ERASMUS building. In parallel, meetings room will be made available for B2B meetings. The day is planned to close at 18:00.
Detailed timetable is available here.
Registrations
Registrations are mandatory to attend the event, both for online and in-person attendance and will close on Wednesday 11/03/2026 at 23:59. Please indicate in the registration form whether you would like to attend the event in-person or online and whether you are interested in a bilateral meeting with ESA Executives.
More details on how to reach ESTEC can be found here.
Bilateral meetings
In-person attendees will have the opportunity to register for bilateral meetings with ESA executives. The matching of your company with an ESA Executive will be done on the basis of your answer to the registration form (company activity, interest in specific studies, etc). Attributions will be done on a first-come/first-served basis. Information about the time and meeting room will be communicated to you ahead of the event. There should only be one request per company, registrants are kindly asked to coordinate internally.
B2B meetings
Meeting rooms will be made available for B2B meetings but the organization of these meeting is entirely left up to the attendees. A signing sheet will be provided on the day to manage the rooms allocations.
