Europlanet Society

What Europlanet Society does

Europlanet Society is a Belgian non-profit association (AISBL, registration 0800.634.634) established in 2018 and hosted by the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy in Brussels. It coordinates the European planetary science research community through a portfolio of Transnational Access (TA) programmes to planetary field analogue sites and distributed laboratory facilities, Virtual Access (VA) data portals (VESPA, SPIDER, GMAP), and networking activities including the annual European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) and the Early Career Network (EPEC). The organization operates 11 regional hubs spanning Benelux, Central Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland and the UK, Northern Europe, Southeast Europe, Spain and Portugal, Switzerland, and Colombia.

Its core product is the Europlanet 2024 RI research infrastructure, originally funded by a €10 million EU Horizon 2020 grant (No. 871149, 2020–July 2024). The infrastructure encompasses seven state-of-the-art planetary simulation laboratories (including the Swedish Planetary Ices Laboratory, Aarhus Planetary Environment Facility, and the Kent Light Gas Gun Laboratory), the Europlanet Telescope Network, and machine learning services. Supporting offerings include the Mentorship Platform, Expert Exchange Programme, Evaluation Unit, and educational resources such as the Mars Collection and Icy Moons Collection distributed in 8+ languages.

Europlanet is a non-profit funded primarily through European Union research grants, supplemented by membership fees and emerging industry access channels. Educational resources are provided free of charge. Customer segments include academic researchers, early career scientists, K-12 educators, and amateur astronomy communities. Strategic partnerships extend to ESA, IAU, ESFRI, BIRA-IASB, the Federation of Astronomical Associations of Spain, and others, with an active role in the UN International Year for Asteroid Awareness and Planetary Defence (Asteroids2029).

Name

Europlanet Society

Legal name

Europlanet AISBL (Association Internationale Sans But Lucratif)

Website

https://europlanet-society.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Europlanet Society is a Belgian non-profit AISBL that coordinates European planetary science research infrastructure, including transnational access to planetary simulation laboratories, virtual data portals (VESPA, SPIDER, GMAP), the annual EPSC congress, EPEC early career network, and multilingual educational resources for academic, early career, and K-12 audiences.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Planetary science research infrastructure

NAICS

Space Research and Technology (927110), Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services (541360)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

International Science, Technology & Space Cooperation Organizations (BPADAAAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Satellite Imagery & Remote Sensing Geospatial Platforms (BPAMANAM)

Keywords

• Planetary science research
• Research infrastructure access
• Transnational access programs
• Virtual planetary data services
• Science community networking

Headquarters

HQ city

Brussels

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. EU Horizon 2020 Research Funding: Europlanet 2024 RI received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871149. This constitutes the primary funding source for the research infrastructure activities, including transnational access programs, virtual access services, and networking activities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Europlanet Society coordinates a pan-European research infrastructure for planetary science, providing Transnational Access (TA) to planetary field analogue sites (e.g., Danakil Depression, Iceland, Rio Tinto) and distributed laboratory facilities, Virtual Access (VA) through data portals (VESPA, SPIDER, GMAP), and Networking Activities including the annual EPSC congress, EPEC early-career network, mentorship platform, and telescope network. It also produces multilingual school-level educational resources (Mars and Icy Moons Collections) and runs awards programs for public engagement in planetary science.

Product overview

Europlanet Society operates a platform-plus-services model offering the Europlanet 2024 RI research infrastructure as its core product, providing transnational access to planetary field analogues and laboratory facilities, virtual access through data portals (VESPA, SPIDER, GMAP), and networking activities including the annual EPSC congress. Supporting services include the Europlanet Telescope Network, Machine Learning service, Mentorship Platform, Evaluation Unit, and Expert Exchange Programme. Educational offerings include the Mars Collection and Icy Moons Collection of school resources targeting ages 10-14, plus The Illustrated Guide to Mars galleries. The community is supported through EPEC (Early Career Network), Discord server, Europlanet Magazine, and the Europlanet Prize for Public Engagement.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Europlanet 2024 RI: Research infrastructure project funded by EU Horizon 2020, now closed as of July 2024
• Europlanet 2020 RI
• Europlanet Early Career Network (EPEC)
• European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC)

Products and services

• Europlanet 2024 RI Research Infrastructure Pan-European research infrastructure project providing transnational and virtual access to planetary science facilities and data, plus networking activities. Funded under EU Horizon 2020.
• Transnational Access (TA) Programme Application-based programme providing scientists and engineers with funded access to planetary science laboratories and field analogue sites across Europe.
• VESPA Portal (Virtual European Solar and Planetary Access) Online data portal providing researchers with access to distributed planetary science datasets across Europe.
• SPIDER (Sun Planet Interactions Digital Environment on Request) Virtual access service delivering data and digital resources for sun-planet interactions research.
• GMAP (Geologic Mapping of Planetary bodies) Service providing tools and resources for the geological mapping of planetary bodies, complemented by the GMAP Winter School training programme.
• Europlanet Machine Learning Service Machine learning tools and services for solar and planetary research applications.
• Europlanet Telescope Network Network providing observation access to telescopes across Europe for planetary science research.
• Europlanet Mentorship Platform Platform connecting experienced planetary scientists with early-career researchers for mentorship and career development.
• Europlanet Expert Exchange Programme Programme facilitating knowledge exchange between planetary science experts across institutions.
• Europlanet Evaluation Unit Service supporting evaluation of research outcomes and impact in planetary science.
• European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) Annual flagship congress bringing together planetary science researchers across Europe, featuring scientific sessions, EPEC@EPSC early-career programming, and outreach activities.
• EPEC (Europlanet Early Career Network) Network supporting early-career researchers in planetary science through events, activities, mentorship and the EPEC Annual Week.
• Mars Collection of Educational Resources Free downloadable school resources for ages 10-14 exploring possibilities of life on Mars, covering topics from extremophiles to Martian chemistry in multiple languages.
• Icy Moons Collection of Educational Resources Free downloadable school resources exploring icy worlds (Europa, Ganymede, Enceladus, Titan, Triton) and their potential for life, developed alongside the JUICE mission.
• The Illustrated Guide to Mars Galleries Series of galleries by planetary scientist and illustrator José Utreras Contreras about Mars and Mars missions, available on the Europlanet outreach pages.
• Europlanet Membership Individual and institutional membership scheme providing access to Europlanet community benefits, newsletters, and research infrastructure resources.

Quantifiable outcome

• Support for 8,000+ amateur astronomers through astronomy federation connections
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Lecturers Without BordersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVolunteer organization providing translation services for educational resources, enabling distribution of Mars and Icy Moons Collection materials in multiple European languages (Spanish, Greek, French, Russian, German, Portuguese, Italian).
• Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost institution for Europlanet AISBL (Association Internationale Sans But Lucratif), providing administrative infrastructure and housing the Department of Planetary Atmospheres.
• Korean Distinguished Scholar Invitation Programme partnersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational collaboration enabling Korean researchers to participate in Europlanet research activities through a dedicated invitation program.
• European Space Agency (ESA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerESA collaboration including interview content at EPSC (e.g., Elliot Sefton-Nash on ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover), professional-amateur astronomy collaboration through CEA meetings, and policy engagement.
• International Astronomy Union (IAU)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on astroEDU educational resource collections, connecting planetary science outreach with international astronomy education standards.
• Federation of Astronomical Associations of SpainminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganization representing 78 associations and 8,000+ amateur astronomers in Spain, collaborating through biennial CEA congresses and Pro-Am research initiatives.
• EduINAF (Italian National Institute for Astrophysics)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerItalian astronomy education portal producing video lessons for Terra chiama Marte (Terra chiama Marte), providing Italian-language versions of Mars Collection educational resources.
• Asteroids2029 / UN International Year for Asteroid Awareness and Planetary DefencecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal initiative launched June 2026 in Luxembourg to support UN International Year for Asteroid Awareness and Planetary Defence, with Europlanet as an organizing partner.
• ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEuroplanet participates in ESFRI meetings and Distributed Research Infrastructure (DRI) Events, positioning itself within European research infrastructure strategy.
• Laboratory facility partners (across Europe)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with institutions hosting Transnational Access laboratory facilities: Aarhus University (Denmark), University of Kent (UK), IPAG/CNRS (France), HUN-REN Atomki (Hungary), Open University (UK), Lulea University of Technology (Sweden)

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• International Astronautical Federation (IAF): Global federation of space agencies, industry, and societies running the annual IAC congress; an adjacent convening organisation with overlapping community but a more industry/policy orientation than Europlanet.
• European Space Agency (ESA): Primary European governmental space actor that Europlanet partners with on mission-related programming and outreach; overlaps on planetary research and data infrastructure but operates a much broader mandate.
• European Geosciences Union (EGU): Larger pan-European geosciences society running an annual congress, divisions, and outreach — comparable to EPSC at a broader disciplinary scope and a structural benchmark for European scientific associations.

Direct peers

• American Astronomical Society (AAS): National professional society for astronomy and planetary science running major meetings, prizes, and education programmes — a clear functional analogue to Europlanet's EPSC and EPEC activities in a different geography.
• EuroScience: Pan-European grassroots organisation of scientists that, like Europlanet, runs policy engagement, events, and outreach for the European research community, but across all disciplines rather than focusing on planetary science.
• European Science Foundation (ESF):
• International Astronomical Union (IAU): Global coordinating body for astronomy/planetary science that, like Europlanet, organises scientific meetings (e.g., General Assembly), builds educational resources (astroEDU), and represents the research community internationally — the closest functional peer at a different geographic scope.
• Committee on Space Research (COSPAR): International scientific body coordinating space research across disciplines; structurally comparable to Europlanet as a non-governmental convener of planetary and space scientists running assemblies, capacity-building programmes, and commissions.
• Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO): Intergovernmental research infrastructure organisation delivering distributed astronomical facilities across continents — the closest European-anchored, distributed research-infrastructure analogue to Europlanet's model.

Emerging players

• ELIXIR: European distributed research infrastructure for life-sciences data, also ESFRI-aligned; shares the distributed-access infrastructure model with Europlanet but in a different scientific domain.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/europlanetmedia
• YouTubeyoutube.com/europlanetmedia
• Facebookfacebook.com/europlanetmedia
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/europlanet-society/mycompany
• Instagraminstagram.com/europlanetmedia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Europlanet Society