Six Months, Many Milestones: The First Half of 2026 for Astroscale France

The last six months of 2026 has seen space sustainability in Europe move from being a shared ambition to a set of programs - with timelines, partners, and government backing them. Astroscale France sits at the centre of that shift. We’ve deepened our partnerships across the European ecosystem, signed a contract for a satellite deorbiting mission, represented Astroscale at one of France’s most important economic events, and welcomed new members to a rapidly growing team.

Here’s a look back at the milestones that have shaped 2026 so far - and what they signal for the months and years ahead.

Prioritising Defence and National Sovereignty

With Europe’s security landscape evolving at a rapid pace, defence and national sovereignty have become essential to how we’re approaching the remainder of 2026. Space is increasingly recognised as critical national infrastructure, and we’re confident Astroscale France will play a growing role in supporting sovereign, secure, and resilient operations.

To meet that demand, we’re strengthening our IT security to the standards required for defence work, positioning us to bid for and deliver defence contracts. We’re also progressing an innovation project focused on strengthening capability in this space - more to come on this in the months ahead. Alongside this, we’re pursuing opportunities to support surveillance and early warning in GEO, an area which is increasingly vital to Europe’s resilience. Pursuing this work is a priority for Astroscale France, as we help advance Europe’s sovereign space capabilities.

The Exotrail Signing: France-Japan Cooperation in Orbit

Then in April came the signing of our contract with Exotrail - a company specialising in the design, manufacturing and operation of multi-orbit and multi-mission satellites - to develop a satellite deorbiting mission capability by 2030. Building on our existing partnership, the contract covers in-space mobility, rendezvous and proximity operations, and end-of-life technologies.

Signed at Astroscale’s Tokyo headquarters in the presence of President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, this project demonstrates how important collaboration across industry and borders is to building commercially viable and scalable on-orbit servicing for all.

Partnerships like these send out a critical message to the wider ecosystem: in today’s space economy collaboration isn’t the fallback - it’s the competitive edge.

Choose France: Recognition on the National Stage

In June, Nobu Okada, our Founder & CEO, and I represented Astroscale at the 9th edition of the Choose France Summit at the Palace of Versailles - an annual gathering, hosted by President Emmanuel Macron, that brings together international business leaders around the question of why choose France to invest, produce, and innovate. The 2026 edition placed particular focus on the sectors shaping France's industrial future: AI, digital infrastructures, decarbonized energy, electronics and semiconductors, space, and technologies linked to European industrial and technological sovereignty.

Our participation reflects a moment of real growth for Astroscale France. With the establishment of our European Technical Centre in Toulouse, alongside continued investment in Paris, we are deepening our commitment to one of Europe's most dynamic space ecosystems, and to the French institutions and partners helping build the capabilities that will shape the sector's future.

As demand grows for secure, resilient, and sustainable operations, we are proud to be expanding our presence here, and grateful for the continued support of the French government, President Macron, and Business France.

Building the Team Behind the Mission

Behind every partnership, every contract, and every high-profile signing is a team that makes the work possible. And over the first half of 2026, that team has grown considerably.

Since the start of the year Astroscale France has welcomed 10 new team members across Flight Dynamics, Embedded Software, AIV, IT, and HR.

Contributing to Europe's Zero Debris Ambitions

As well as defence and national sovereignty, space sustainability continues to be a consistent thread running through our work. We’re proud signatories of the Zero Debris Charter, ESA’s collaborative initiative bringing the space community together to achieve a debris-neutral orbital environment by 2030. We’ve also taken an active role in shaping the policy conversation, contributing to one of ESA’s working groups, and the overall development of technologies for zero debris.

Alongside this, we joined ECO-Tethers, a new system study under the European Space Agency’s (ESA) FIRST! Technologies in Sustainability for Future Space Transportation programme, led by PERSEI Space. The ECO-Tethers project will assess propellant-free technologies for in-space propulsion and deorbiting using electrodynamic tethers. The aim is to define credible, system-level solutions that may support compliant end-of-life disposal, reduce long-term debris generation, and enable more sustainable space transportation architectures. We’re delighted to be contributing our operational experience in rendezvous and proximity operations, debris-related missions, and in-orbit servicing to ensure that sustainability objectives are grounded in practical mission design.

As Europe brings critical infrastructure like the IRIS 2 online, we see servicing and sustainability as an essential part of how that infrastructure stays resilient over its lifetime - and it’s exactly the kind of mission we’re building our capabilities towards supporting.

"It’s an important step in translating Europe’s sustainability ambitions into practical, deployable solutions.”

But we’re not done yet. With milestone missions to deliver, studies to lead, and partnerships to develop, we’re continuing to build a team ready to take on whatever comes next.