Portugal has one licensed launch centre, on Santa Maria in the Azores. Orbital launches from it were first promised for 2021. Nothing launched from it has reached space.
0
orbital launches from Portugal in 2026, to 2 October
9
dated promises of a first orbital launch from Santa Maria; 3 of the dates have passed without one
€5.7m
public money paid so far, with €32.7m more signed or pledged
5.6 km
the highest any rocket from Santa Maria has flown
Checked 8 October 2026
Launch sites
Nothing has gone to space from Portugal. Only small rockets have flown from Malbusca on Santa Maria: two in September 2024 and four in August 2026.
Santa Maria Spaceport, Azores
- What happened
- Licensed in August 2025 for five years; each launch needs its own licence. Run by the private Atlantic Spaceport Consortium. Innospace of South Korea says its HANBIT rocket will fly from here; its first flight failed in Brazil in December 2025, and a second try is under review for the first half of 2027.
In 2018 the government promised €56.0m for a launch programme and the state as its first customer. It paid none of it and cancelled the tender in April 2021. Since then €5.7m of public money has been paid, for a planned air-force base it shares with a satellite factory, the Portugal Space office and studies.
Money from company accounts, public registers and ESA contracts; promises from the statements on our company and spaceport pages; launch counts from Jonathan McDowell’s launch log of 7 October 2026. Every figure is on the page it comes from.