The Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) 2026 will be held in hybrid format at the Amare arts venue in The Hague, Netherlands, and online, from 6–11 September 2026.

EPSC2026 covers the full spectrum of planetary research and technology across over 125 scientific sessions, keynotes, debates and community events. Topics include the latest results on the Solar System, exoplanetary and interstellar bodies, current and upcoming missions, ground-based observations, the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in planetary science, planetary defence, the emergence of life in our Solar System and beyond, and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Around 1200 planetary scientists from over 40 countries in Europe and around the world are expected to attend the conference.

The Hague – the first place in the Netherlands to host EPSC – has a special connection to planetary science. The world’s first written account of an astronomical observation using a telescope was published in The Hague, and the city was the birthplace of Christiaan Huygens, the telescope pioneer and discoverer of Saturn’s moon Titan. In the run-up to and during the week of the conference, a comprehensive public outreach programme will engage the local community with the city’s history and planetary science through a walking tour, concerts, arts installations, lectures and schools’ events.

Media representatives are cordially invited to attend EPSC2026. Media registration is free. Any bona fide media delegates can register by emailing aheward@europlanet.org.

Press briefings will be livestreamed and press notices on presentations of interest to the media will be issued by the EPSC2026 Press Office during the meeting.

Details of the scientific sessions and the presentation abstracts can be found at the official website: https://www.epsc2026.eu

An overview of the programme can be found here:
https://www.epsc2026.eu/epsc-2026-schedule-overview.pdf

Details of the walking trail and other public events in The Hague can be found here: https://denhaag.com/en/the-hague-planet-trail

The meeting hashtag is #EPSC2026

PRESS BRIEFINGS

Monday 07 September, 11:00 CEST: ESA’s Hera Mission - Countdown to Arrival at Didymos/Dimorphos and looking ahead to RAMSES and Apophis

In November 2026, ESA’s Hera mission will arrive at the Didymos binary asteroid system to make a detailed survey of the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, which was impacted by NASA’s DART mission in September 2022.

During this press briefing, along with giving updates on the status and plans for the mission post-arrival, the Hera team will unveil a revolutionary way for the public to engage with the mission and become part of its space adventure.

There will also be updates on the ESA/JAXA RAMSES mission, which will rendezvous with asteroid (99942) Apophis and accompany it on its flyby of Earth on 13 April 2029.

Speakers:

• Michael Küppers, ESA Hera Project Scientist, ESA-ESAC, Spain
• Patrick Michel, Hera Mission Principal Investigator, RAMSES ESA Project Scientist and Director of Research at CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, France.
• Heli Greus, Hera and RAMSES ESA project teams.

Wednesday 09 September, 12:45 CEST: Arrival of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo Mission at Mercury
After an eight-year journey, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission will arrive at Mercury this autumn. Separation of the European and Japanese orbiters from the Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) will take place on 3 September, followed by orbit insertion on 21 November, and the separation of the ESA Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA Mio spacecraft on 9–10 December. From that moment on, BepiColombo will be officially the first two-spacecraft mission at Mercury. The science phase of the mission will begin in April 2027.

This press briefing will give an update on the status of the spacecraft following MTM separation, and provide an overview of the next steps during this exciting time in the BepiColombo mission.

Speakers:

• Santa Martinez, Mission Manager
• Ignacio Tanco, Head, Inner Solar System Missions Unit
• Geraint Jones, Lead ESA Project Scientist
• Go Murakami, JAXA Project Scientist.