Paris, January 26th – After a year 2025 marked by a “space awakening”, 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for European space. Against a backdrop of orbital congestion, rising geopolitical tensions and the acceleration of European programmes, and just days ahead of the European Space Conference, CS Group – Sopra Steria offers a structured analysis of the key challenges and trends shaping European space, from current priorities to trajectories looking towards 2040.
Three structuring priorities for European space
Space is now firmly established as a strategic pillar of European sovereignty, on a par with energy, digital technologies and defence.
In this context, three key priorities stand out for the years ahead:
- Protect: the rapid multiplication of satellites, the growth of orbital debris and the intensification of global competition make it essential to strengthen the security and resilience of space infrastructures. These challenges are driving the expansion of European regulatory and capability frameworks, through initiatives such as the EU Space Act, EU-SST and the European Space Shield, aimed at reinforcing Europe’s strategic autonomy in space.
- Connect: space-based connectivity is becoming a strategic common good, essential to the resilience of economic infrastructures, the management of civil and military crises, and the strengthening of international cooperation. Flagship programmes such as IRIS² and ERS embody this ambition, laying the foundations for secure, federated European connectivity.
- Accelerate: the success of European space depends on industrial acceleration. Increasing the production rate of Ariane and Vega launchers, the ability to rapidly execute new programmes and the adaptation of the European supply chain are key challenges. In this context, digital technologies are emerging as a central lever to streamline execution, optimise value chains and reduce technological dependencies.
Digital technologies serving European space
A long-standing space player, CS Group draws on more than 40 years of expertise in critical systems and comprehensive mastery of the digital space value chain, from operations and data processing to optimisation algorithms.
As part of this scaling-up strategy, the Sopra Steria Group announced in December 2025 its intention to acquire Starion and Nexova, with the aim of structuring a leading European industrial player in sovereign and secure digital services for space and cybersecurity. This momentum continues through targeted technological partnerships and capability-federation projects such as Virtual Constellation, based on standardisation and multi-sensor data fusion.
Sylvain D’Hoine, Executive Vice President Space, CS Group – Sopra Steria, said: “What is at stake in space today will commit Europe for decades to come. The ability to protect our infrastructures, federate stakeholders and rapidly execute programmes will be decisive. Digital technology is one of the structuring levers of this trajectory. In this context, CS Group – Sopra Steria is placing its expertise in critical systems and digital technologies at the service of a more sovereign, more secure and more efficient European space.”