ESA’s Prodex programme brings scientific research to space

“ESA currently manages over 400 contracts with institutes and industry within Prodex – the Programme for the development of scientific experiments.

“Prodex supports the industrial development of highly sophisticated scientific instruments and experiments in science, Earth observation and microgravity domains for ESA Science missions such as Smile, Plato, Comet Interceptor, Envision, LISA, Exomars, NewAthena, Arrakihs and non-ESA missions  such as CLPS, Solar-C, and Polar-2. We are also developing instrumentation and experiments for the International Space Station,” said ESA Head of the Prodex Office, Michel Lazerges.

At the Ministerial Council 2025, 17 ESA Member States pledged a total of €327.52 million to this optional programme – a 38% increase on the commitment given at the previous Ministerial in 2022.

Prodex gives nations the opportunity to build on their scientific know-how, forge industrial and institutional cooperation, and increase their competitiveness in the space domain.

A springboard for science instrumentation and experiments

Prodex is supporting the development of scientific instruments for a range of ESA missions and activities. Some notable recent successes include:

Norway’s space weather research – The 4DSpace-Daedalus (ICI-5b) mission was coordinated by Oslo University in Norway and funded partly by Prodex. The Norwegian 12m-long sounding rocket with on-board instruments and releasable subpayloads launched on 11 March from Norway’s Andøya Space Centre into an auroral substorm.

It collected a wealth of data related to turbulence in highly-charged plasma air and in the neutral part of the upper atmosphere. The data will be analysed and used in space weather research and to understand the fundamental processes in energy transfer and couplings within the upper polar atmosphere.

Poland and Estonia’s comet interceptor instrumentsPoland’s DFP-B2 instrument developed by Space Research Centre Polish Academy of Science (Centrum Badań Kosmicznych PAN) and Estonia’s OPIC instrument developed by Tartu University are the first two instruments soon to be delivered to the prime contractor for Probe B2 of ESA’s Comet Interceptor Spacecraft. 

Further instruments developed in Switzerland, Belgium and Poland will be delivered this year for the Comet Interceptor Spacecraft including the MANiaC instrument, CoCa instrument, RMA instrument, and DFP-A instrument.

Belgium’s infrared spectrometer for ESA EnvisionProdex has a large stake in ESA’s Envision mission with 16 contracts to develop the infrared spectrometer called VenSpec-H which will study the atmospheric composition of Venus.

ESA’s Smile mission will improve our understanding of space weather and solar storms and launched on 19 May 2026 with several instruments developed with the support of the Prodex programme.

Prodex celebrates 40 years

The Prodex programme, founded in 1986, turns 40 this year. A three-day celebration event to mark this will be held in Switzerland with delegations and representatives from all Prodex participating states (Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia). About 200 participants are expected.