The European Defence Agency (EDA) signed a €15.65 million research contract on 13 March 2026 with an industry consortium to explore the Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) region in space. The research and technology project, funded by five Member States, is exploring one of the most promising and technically demanding frontiers in space.
The project, called VLEO-DEF, will design the first European military satellite concept specifically for VLEO, an orbital region roughly 250 to 350 kilometres above Earth. Operating closer to the planet allows satellites to capture far more detailed images, a key advantage for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Signals also travel a shorter distance, allowing faster delivery of information to military commanders.
Satellites orbiting hundreds of kilometres above Earth already underpin modern defence, but EDA now wants to bring them even closer to the planet. The project will run for 36 months.
Operating in VLEO presents technical challenges. At such low altitudes, the atmosphere still creates significant drag that slows satellites down. Staying in orbit therefore requires advanced propulsion, specialised materials and new satellite designs. The project aims to prepare a future flight experiment to demonstrate key technologies in orbit, including propulsion systems designed for sustained operations in VLEO.
Team Europe
The initiative brings together five Member States — Spain, France, Luxembourg, Portugal and Slovenia — alongside a consortium of 17 European industrial and research organisations.
The consortium is led by the Spanish aerospace engineering company SENER. Other participants include: DEIMOS, Airbus Defence and Space, and SATLANTIS from Spain; INEGI, GEOSAT, and OMNIDEA from Portugal; INTEGRASYS, SPARC, LIST, RAFINEX, EMTRONIX, GRADEL, and GOMSPACE from Luxembourg; EXOTRAIL and Thales Alenia Space France from France; and SKYLABS from Slovenia.
Home and away
VLEO-DEF is not EDA’s first step into this field. In 2024, the agency began the LEO2VLEO project involving Austria and the Netherlands which will build a constellation of three satellites capable of manoeuvring between traditional Low Earth Orbit and Very Low Earth Orbit. The aim of that programme is to demonstrate how satellites could temporarily descend into VLEO for specific missions before returning to higher orbit.
VLEO-DEF, instead of testing orbital manoeuvres, focuses on designing a satellite specifically optimised for operating in Very Low Earth Orbit and developing the technologies needed to sustain missions in this demanding environment.