5th ESA CubeSat Industry Days
1 - 3 June 2021
Online event



The fourth CubeSat Industry Days event was successfully held in June 2019 with over 260 participants from more than 150 companies. Since then, there has been accelerated progress in the state-of-the-art of European CubeSat system capabilities, subsystem products/technologies, launch/in-orbit transportation services, and mission operations experience. CubeSat platforms are becoming larger, more complex and performant. A diverse range of compact payloads are expanding mission applications.

Additionally the market is widening, CubeSat industry growth continues to gather pace, and there has been increased utilisation of these small platforms by government and commercial customers. CubeSats have been used as a platform for technology demonstration as well as the backbone of commercial constellations for delivering many applications in Europe and the rest of the world. Furthermore, CubeSats have pushed the boundaries of what has previously been possible with lunar and deep space CubeSats now in design and development in Europe.

Through the ESA General Support Technology Programme (GSTP), four CubeSat In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) missions were launched since June 2019, two more are being integrated for launch in summer 2021, and a further two are under development for launch in 2022. Several more IOD CubeSat projects and miniaturised technology development activities have been initiated, or are ongoing with industry/research institutes across Europe. These include “high-impact” missions enabling next generation Low Earth Orbit Constellations, Close Proximity Operations, high precision astronomy and "beyond LEO" CubeSats. 

CubeSats have also become recognised  throughout ESA beyond technology demonstration and education, including several CubeSats developed and launched in other ESA programmes, e.g. Earth Observation and Telecommunications, as well as numerous technology development activities and/or future mission studies in those programmes as well as the Science, Navigation, Space Safety and Human & Robotic Exploration programmes. Additionally, the Vega SSMS European rideshare service has flown for the first time, opening up recurrent flight opportunities for CubeSats on a European launcher. Through its IOD/IOV programme, the European Commission is also utilising CubeSats to support the demonstration of innovative European technologies in orbit, and several national space programmes have either CubeSat missions and/or technologies developments underway.

This event serves as a forum to: exchange information on the latest industry developments/future priorities and the ESA activities in the CubeSat nano-satellite domain; reflect on technology/mission roadmaps; as well as to discuss the technical/regulatory challenges facing the industry in sustaining further competitiveness and growth in this innovative and dynamic segment of the space sector.