Applications open for ESA Research Fellowships in Space Science
Applications are now open for the 2026 ESA Research Fellowships in Space Science. These postdoctoral fellowships offer early-career scientists from ESA Member States the possibility to carry out independent research in heliophysics, planetary science, astrophysics, and fundamental physics. The fellowships can be taken at ESAC near Madrid, Spain, at ESTEC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, or at the ESA Office at STScI in Baltimore, USA. Applicants should have completed their PhD or be able to complete it before taking up the fellowship starting in fall 2027. The deadline for applications is 21 September 2026. The fellowship website provides details of the fellowship, the application process, current and past fellows, and access to the application portal.
Applications open for the ESA Archival Research Visitor Programme
ESA welcomes applications from scientists interested in pursuing research projects based on data publicly available in the ESA Space Science Archives. The ESA Archival Research Visitor Programme is open to scientists who are affiliated with institutes in ESA Member States and Cooperating States. All visits must comply with the ESA security directives, which may necessitate additional checks. Early-career scientists including students are particularly encouraged to apply. Research projects can be carried out at ESAC and at ESTEC. Visits typically last 1 - 3 months. ESA covers travel costs and provides support for lodging expenses and meals. We encourage applications from women and minorities. The evaluation process is anonymised to ensure equal opportunities for all applicants. The deadline for applications is 31 October 2026.
Applications open for XMM-Newton observing proposals (AO-26)
The call for XMM-Newton observing proposals under AO-26 is now open. Proposals must be submitted by 12:00 UT on Friday 9 October 2026. A new Joint Programme with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is offered in this AO. The XMM-Newton Project may award up to 500 ks of IXPE observing time. Other Joint Programmes exist with the VLT, NRAO (i.e., VLA, GBT, VLBA), HST, JWST, HESS and MAGIC, as well as with other X-ray missions: Chandra, NuSTAR, Swift and XRISM. All AO-26 details are available at the website https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/ao26. Visit the XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre website (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton) or contact the XMM-Newton Helpdesk (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/xmm-newton-helpdesk) for more information.
Euclid shares new Milky Way views in its Q2 Data Release
On 24 June 2026, the European Space Agency's Euclid mission revealed the largest and most detailed visible-light image ever taken of the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. Euclid captured this enormous image in just about 26 hours with its visible-light camera, which is sensitive enough to distinguish individual stars in the densely populated galactic bulge without being blinded by their brightness. The image contains more than 60 million stars, as well as nebulae and star clusters. This crowded region of our galaxy is an ideal place for astronomers to search for exoplanets through microlensing. The Euclid Galactic Bulge Survey is part of Quick Data Release 2 (Q2), and the Q2 data are available here: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/euclid/q2-data-release. The Q2 images can also be explored on ESASky.
An update on the Euclid Data Release 1 (DR1) timeline is now available. To maximise the scientific value of this large and diverse dataset, the release will proceed in two stages. In November 2026, Euclid will release all raw data, calibrated images, catalogues, and spectra, covering a large sky area of about 1900 deg2 in DR1-Foundation. The complete DR1, including the higher-level science products for galaxy clustering and weak lensing studies, will then follow in mid-2027. The exact release dates will be communicated at a later stage on the Euclid timeline page: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/euclid/timeline. Researchers are encouraged to prepare for the first stage of the release in November 2026.
The Gaia mission's first principal data release (Gaia DR4) is planned for 2 December 2026. This massive release will contain catalogues and data products derived by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis consortium from the first 5.5 years of Gaia's observations. New information on the release content and data previews were presented at the Gaia Symposium at the annual meeting of the European Astronomical Society in June 2026. This includes the pre-release of a tiny subset of the 1.3 trillion individual astrometric observations in Gaia DR4, information on the ~140 data products in Gaia DR4, and the titles of the more than 70 publications that will accompany the release. Gaia's fifth and legacy data release DR5, covering all 10.5 years of data collected by the spacecraft, will be released no earlier than the end of 2030.
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, to which ESA is contributing as a Mission of Opportunity, is scheduled to launch on 30 August 2026 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center. With an infrared field of view more than 100 times larger than Hubble's, Roman will survey billions of galaxies to probe the nature of dark energy, explore the transient Universe, and conduct a census of exoplanet populations. It will occupy a discovery space between Webb's ultra-deep observations and Euclid's wide-area surveys. ESA contributes key spacecraft hardware and ground-station support, providing European researchers with the opportunity to participate closely in this major new astrophysics mission.
Coming soon: Vacancy for Arrakihs Science Operations Scientist
ESA's Directorate of Science will soon be looking for a Science Operations Scientist for the Arrakihs mission, to be based at ESAC. In this role, their primary objective will be to support the definition, implementation and testing of science operations activities for Arrakihs, working closely with the Project Scientist, the Archive Scientist and the Science Operations Centre (SOC) team, and interfacing with the Instrument Operations and Science Data Centre (IOSDC) team from the Arrakihs Mission Consortium. They will contribute to ground-segment operations design, science mission planning tools, and data product validation, while supporting preparations for commissioning and science performance demonstration. They will also continue to pursue their own research within the Department. The opportunity will be published on the ESA careers webpage.
Europlanet Science Congress - TP18: BepiColombo nears Mercury 7 - 11 September 2026, The Hague, The Netherlands
A dedicated topical session at the EPSC2026 will focus on the BepiColombo mission and the exploration of Mercury, bringing together the community to discuss the mission's latest results and scientific prospects as it prepares for orbital operations around the innermost planet. The session will highlight new insights into Mercury's interior, surface, exosphere and magnetosphere, placing BepiColombo's upcoming measurements on the front line of planetary research.
INTEGRAL Legacy Conference 2026 19 - 23 October 2026, Orsay, France INTEGRAL is crucial in our understanding of high energy astrophysical phenomena, permitting studies of bright transient events, which made it a cornerstone for multi-messenger astronomy, and of elusive signals from faint gamma-ray sources. This has fostered collaborations with other missions that will enhance INTEGRAL's legacy in supporting new missions and answering new astrophysical questions.
European Space Agency, D/SCI Directorate of Science
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