HORIZON-CL4-2026-SPACE-03-61: Scientific analysis and exploitation of space data
Historical Horizon Europe research topic for analysis and exploitation of space science and exploration mission data. The 2026 call is closed; its total indicative budget was €3,920,000, with €1.5–2.5 million expected per project.
HORIZON-CL4-2026-SPACE-03-61: Scientific analysis and exploitation of space data
Historical status
This page is a historical reference for the 2026 Horizon Europe SPACE call. The European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA), which manages the call, lists it as closed. HaDEA gives a single-stage deadline of 16 September 2026 at 17:00 CEST. There is no open application window for this cycle. The official topic and call materials reviewed do not announce a later round for this same topic, so no future deadline is stated here.
The call was HORIZON-CL4-2026-SPACE-03-61, “Scientific analysis and exploitation of space data,” under Horizon Europe Cluster 4: Digital, Industry and Space. It was a Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action (RIA). The official programme lists a total indicative topic budget of €3.92 million, expected EU contributions of €1.5 million to €2.5 million per project, and two expected projects. Those figures describe the call’s planned funding, not a guaranteed award or a single grant of €3.92 million. The work programme notes that proposals may request different amounts and that budget remains subject to the Union’s appropriations.
HaDEA reported on 29 September 2026 that the overall 2026 Space call received 132 proposals; 52 were submitted to this topic, for which two projects were expected to be funded. HaDEA said evaluation results were expected to be communicated by 16 February 2027. That is an anticipated results date, not an application deadline or a new submission window. Applicants awaiting a decision should use the Funding & Tenders Portal for their proposal’s official communications.
This distinction matters to anyone reading the page after closure: the topic’s scientific fit and terms remain useful for reference, but the call’s submission window has ended. Do not treat the archived date as a future opportunity. For a later opportunity, applicants need a separately published topic or call with its own official deadline and documents.
What the topic was designed to fund
The topic supported analysis, including validation, and exploitation of acquired and available data from scientific and exploration instruments and missions. Its subject areas included astronomy and astrophysics, cosmology, heliophysics, deep space, and solar system exploration. Data could come from missions in pre-operative, operative, post-operative, or data-exploitation phases. The call sought projects that complement work already supported by agencies during mission development rather than duplicate that upstream development activity.
The expected outcomes were broader than producing a one-off analysis. The Commission wanted stronger European space-science results based on mission data, more scientific publications using those data, higher-level data products that can be made available through suitable archives, and tools and methods for advanced processing. It also expected wider collaboration among scientific teams inside and outside Europe, across domains, and stronger European scientific excellence. A proposal therefore needed a credible link between data processing work and scientific value: which question the work would answer, which data could answer it, and what reusable product or method would result.
The eligible data landscape was mission-specific. The topic described science and exploration missions from ESA, national space agencies, research organisations, and universities. CubeSat and small-satellite missions could contribute when they advanced space science or exploration. Earth-observing missions were explicitly outside the topic’s scope. A proposal that relied on Earth observation as its core data source would not fit merely because it used sophisticated analytics or space hardware.
The topic allowed advanced processing techniques, artificial intelligence, statistical methods, multidimensional data fusion, advanced computing architectures, and new ways to present or visualize data. These techniques were means to address the scientific task, rather than an independent aim. The proposed method needed to be connected to the interpretation, validation, or scientific reuse of mission data and to the expected research outputs.
Where possible, applicants could use data available from ESA Space Science Archives; instrumentation teams or other documented routes could provide access when appropriate. Combining mission data with international scientific mission data and relevant ground-based infrastructure data was encouraged. The work programme also encouraged international cooperation, particularly with countries active in space exploration and space science. Enhanced products were expected to be suitable for return to ESA Space Science Archives when possible, and the analysis could help prepare future European and international missions.
Funding scale and project maturity
The €3.92 million figure is the total indicative budget for the topic. The work programme expected an EU contribution between €1.5 million and €2.5 million per project and anticipated funding two projects. These are planning figures for the competition, not a promise that every proposal in that range would be funded. The Commission can select proposals requesting different amounts, and the final allocation depends on evaluation and available appropriations.
The topic was an RIA, not a procurement tender for a finished service. Its funded work was research and innovation around data analysis, validation, and exploitation. At project completion, activities were expected to reach Technology Readiness Level 4 under the space-sector reference ISO 16290:2013. That expectation makes validation and evidence important: proposals needed to explain what would be demonstrated, against which datasets or benchmarks, and how the work would mature beyond a speculative concept. It does not mean that the call was asking every project to deliver a flight-qualified system.
The topic also made gender-dimension analysis conditional. Applicants were expected to address sex and gender analysis in the research and innovation content only where it was relevant to the objectives. This topic-specific provision did not replace the broader Horizon Europe application rules or other ethics and compliance obligations applicable to a proposal.
Eligibility and consortium checks
This topic did not create a standalone applicant category in its description. Participation was subject to the Horizon Europe call’s general eligibility conditions and the rules published in its General Annexes and Funding & Tenders Portal documents. The work programme refers applicants to General Annex B. It also sets a specific condition: when a project uses satellite-based Earth-observation, positioning, navigation, or related timing data or services, its beneficiaries must use Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS; other data and services may also be used. This condition should be read alongside the topic’s scope statement, which says Earth-observing missions are not in scope as the scientific mission data being analysed. It does not broaden the research topic into a general Earth-observation call.
Because national participation status, legal-entity requirements, and consortium composition can depend on the applicable Horizon rules and current portal records, an applicant needed to verify those conditions against the formal documents rather than rely on a short summary page.
At the topic-fit level, an applicant needed access to relevant scientific or exploration mission data and the scientific and technical capacity to analyse it. Strong teams could bring together mission or instrument expertise, domain scientists, data-processing researchers, and partners responsible for validation, archiving, or research infrastructure. A multinational collaboration could be useful where it joined complementary mission datasets or expertise, but international cooperation was encouraged rather than described as a universal mandatory condition for every consortium.
The research plan needed to distinguish science and exploration mission data from Earth observation as a topic focus. If it used satellite-based Earth-observation, positioning, navigation, or timing data or services, applicants also needed to comply with the work programme’s Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS condition. It needed to show how the proposed analysis complemented agency-supported development activity. Before submitting, institutions had to confirm their own status, the participating countries and entities, consortium composition, and any restrictions or special conditions in the live topic documents. This archived page cannot determine an organisation’s legal eligibility for another competition.
Application route for the closed 2026 call
The call used a single-stage submission process. While it was open, applicants were expected to prepare a complete proposal for the Funding & Tenders Portal topic entry and submit it through the portal before the official deadline. The French Horizon Europe topic page links to that portal entry. HaDEA’s call page identifies the call and its deadline; the topic entry and linked work programme supply the formal topic conditions and application documents.
A sound proposal would have started with a defined scientific question and a data-access plan. The team needed to identify the mission or instrument datasets, explain their relevance and availability, and state how any permissions, archive interfaces, or instrumentation-team arrangements would be handled. Where multiple sources were combined, the plan should have explained how differences in format, calibration, provenance, cadence, or measurement assumptions would be assessed.
The methods section needed to tie processing choices to the question. For example, a proposal using statistical approaches, AI, data fusion, or visualization needed to explain what those methods would validate or reveal and how the resulting interpretation would be checked. A useful validation plan could describe independent observations or datasets, uncertainty treatment, reproducibility, and quality criteria for the output. Such elements help demonstrate that the project can move toward the expected TRL 4 result and yield credible scientific products.
Applicants also needed to plan tangible research outputs. The topic’s expected outcomes included publications, higher-level data products, tools, and methods. A work plan could therefore define which outputs would be released, how they would be documented, how archive compatibility would be considered, and how other teams could reuse them. Where relevant, the consortium could explain how international mission data or ground-based infrastructure would add scientific value and how results might inform future missions.
Budget, work packages, risk management, ethics, data management, and administrative forms had to follow the portal’s call-specific proposal template and Horizon Europe requirements. The exact form versions and submission instructions are cycle-specific. Since the 2026 call has closed, those forms should not be reused for a later call without checking the current portal entry and work programme. This page does not substitute for the official application package.
How to assess fit from the archived topic
The topic was best suited to teams with a defined science or exploration question, a realistic route to mission data, and methods capable of producing validated results. It was a weaker fit for a proposal centered only on generic software, an AI platform without a mission-data research question, or a dataset outside the stated scope. Applicants could use computational innovation, but its contribution needed to be visible in the quality of scientific analysis and reusable products.
Before using the topic as a model for a future application, compare the new topic’s scope and expected outcomes point by point. Check whether the science domain, mission-data source, treatment of Earth observation, maturity expectation, budget, expected contribution, and rules for international participation still match. These details are specific to this closed topic and may not carry over to another Horizon Europe competition.
Official references
- French Horizon Europe topic page: topic title, action type, opening and closing information, total budget, scope, expected outcomes, TRL expectation, and the link to the Funding & Tenders Portal.
- HaDEA 2026 Space call listing: call status, single-stage model, deadline of 16 September 2026 at 17:00 CEST, and the topic’s inclusion in the 2026 Space call.
- HaDEA announcement on proposals submitted: published 29 September 2026; reports 52 proposals submitted to this topic and says evaluation results are expected by 16 February 2027.
- European Commission Horizon Europe 2026–2027 work programme, Digital, Industry and Space: call budget, expected contribution and project count, topic scope, and general annex references.
- EU Funding & Tenders Portal topic entry: official topic workspace and application route. The portal is the place to check formal documents for any open cycle.
Frequently asked questions
Can an applicant submit to this topic now?
No. HaDEA marks the 2026 call closed, and its deadline has passed. This page is retained as an archive reference. It does not provide a current submission window.
What deadline should be retained in records?
The official HaDEA call listing gives 16 September 2026 at 17:00 CEST. That is the deadline for the closed 2026 call. The deadline field above retains the date so the archived opportunity is accurately indexed as historical.
Was €3.92 million available to each project?
No. €3.92 million was the total indicative budget for the topic. The expected EU contribution was €1.5 million to €2.5 million per project, and two projects were expected to be funded.
Were Earth observation projects within scope?
No. The official topic description excludes Earth-observing missions. The target data were from scientific and exploration missions and instruments.
Were CubeSat and small-satellite data allowed?
Yes, when those missions supported space science and exploration. The topic also contemplated combining relevant international mission and ground-based data.
Was international cooperation mandatory?
The topic encouraged international cooperation, particularly with countries active in space science and exploration. Applicants still had to follow all general eligibility and consortium requirements in the official call documents.
Has a next round been announced?
The official topic and call materials reviewed for this page identify the closed 2026 call and do not announce a later round for this same topic. The 2026–2027 work programme contains other 2027 Space topics, but those have separate identifiers and scopes; they do not reopen this one. Check the Funding & Tenders Portal and later work programmes for any separately published successor; no application date is asserted here.
When are the 2026 results expected?
HaDEA’s 29 September 2026 update says evaluation results are expected to be communicated by 16 February 2027. This is a forecast for results communication, not an additional submission deadline. The portal is the authoritative place for proposal-specific messages and any schedule changes.