Austria's defence minister, Klaudia Tanner, announced in Luxembourg on Monday that Vienna intends to buy secure communications capacity on GovSat-2, the Grand Duchy's €301 million military satellite. It is the first foreign partner for the project, and the two ministers signed a broader letter of intent on defence cooperation.
3I/ATLAS, found in July 2025, is only the third confirmed interstellar object. As it passed the Sun, ALMA measurements led by University of Michigan astronomers found its water's deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio is the highest ever measured in a comet — over 40 times Earth's oceans and at least 30 times typical Solar System comets. That points to a birthplace far colder than the Sun's nursery, and it may be among the oldest comets known. The 'alien' claims did not hold up.
Japan's NICT has signed a collaborative research agreement with Luxembourg start-up Odysseus Space and a memorandum of understanding with the University of Luxembourg, both inked on 4 May 2026 at the Prime Minister's Office. The deals, announced on 21 May, target optical satellite-to-ground communications and non-terrestrial networks, with ministers from both countries present at the signing.
Luxembourg's parliament has approved a €265.1 million, four-year envelope to fund the country's space ambitions through 2029. Bill 8663, tabled by Economy Minister Lex Delles in December 2025, directs €149.3 million to ESA programmes and €115.8 million to the national LuxIMPULSE scheme. The package, about €66.6 million above the previous period, completed its passage on 5 May 2026.
SES launched two more O3b mPOWER satellites aboard a Falcon 9 on Friday night, bringing its medium-earth-orbit fleet to nine and unlocking the Pacific service ring.
NASA's four-astronaut Artemis II flight has completed its lunar fly-by and splashed down safely, the first crewed mission to leave low-Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.
The Luxembourg-headquartered satellite operator is launching a national Space Campus to bring core design, integration and manufacturing in-house — a strategic break with four decades of outsourcing.
The Chamber of Deputies has greenlit a €301 million package to build, launch and operate a second sovereign government and defence communications satellite, deepening the LuxGovSat joint venture with SES.