On October 22, 2026, European Space Agency Director of Space Transportation Géraldine Naja said she was unsure whether Themis could make its first hop before year-end, citing approaching winter conditions at Esrange Space Center in Sweden. ESA was expected to decide by the end of November whether to attempt the test before the site’s winter shutdown.
Winter weather clouds Themis’s 2026 target
Themis is an ESA reusable rocket demonstrator. Naja discussed the schedule at a briefing after the agency’s 350th Council meeting in Paris. In January, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher had expected the first hop in the first quarter of 2026. On October 7, ArianeGroup said its teams were defining a window for the next test.
Naja also said the development schedule called for a hop test before June 2027. It was unclear whether that deadline applied to one or both planned hops.
What the first two hops are meant to demonstrate
The initial campaign calls for two low-altitude hops to demonstrate launching Themis, recovering it, and launching it again. The tests are part of SALTO, an initiative funded by the European Union with a reported total budget of €42.8 million.
