PROSSE 2026 allocates €600,000 to support research
The 2026 edition of the Portuguese Space Agency’s research funding programme kicks off on 5 February with an information webinar.
The Portuguese Space Agency will launch the 2026 edition of PROSSE (PROdex for Science in Space Exploration) in February. The competition, dedicated to scientific research in the field of space exploration, has already supported several projects developed in Portugal. This year, the programme has a budget of €600,000. Each project can receive up to €300,000.
Created as part of Portugal’s participation in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) PRODEX programme, PROSSE supports the development of scientific projects relevant to space exploration and other sectors of the economy and society, enabling research to be carried out on different types of infrastructure and platforms, including terrestrial and suborbital environments, microgravity platforms and orbital missions, among other possibilities.
Between 2023 and 2025, the programme supported six projects with a total funding of €420,000. The 2025 edition selected two microgravity research projects, NEURONAUT and U-SANS, with total funding of €100,000, following an evaluation process that included a jury of international experts and a technical and financial feasibility verification stage by ESA’s PRODEX team. This experience should serve as a reference for the new edition, in a cycle that aims to broaden the scope of the programme and consolidate national participation in research opportunities associated with space exploration.
The public launch of the competition will be marked by a webinar on 5 February, with a preliminary programme that includes an opening session and presentation of the 2025 results, followed by presentations dedicated to the NEURONAUT and U-SANS projects. There will also be a presentation on ESA’s Space Exploration Programme, as well as a section dedicated to commercial solution providers for experimentation and access to platforms, including contributions from Yuri, SAS/ICE Cubes, Kayser Italia/Kubik and iSpace Europe, in addition to question and answer sessions. The programme also includes a brief presentation on ESA’s Biobank, before the final framework for the 2026 competition and another Q&A session.
