After the Ariane launchers, Europe intends to develop spaceships to increase its autonomy in space and depend less on the Americans. Wednesday May 22, on the occasion of the European Space Summit, which is being held for two days in Brussels to discuss the future of the sector, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that it had selected two companies out of the seven candidates to develop a cargo vessel capable of carrying cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) and then back to Earth.
These are the Franco-German start-up The Exploration Company and the Franco-Italian group Thales Alenia Space (TAS). The idea would be to quickly select a third company, knowing that two other manufacturers have been asked to specify their project. The ESA will thus have several suppliers, like NASA, which uses SpaceX’s Dragon capsules for its missions to the ISS and hopes to have a second vehicle with the Boeing Starliner.
This call for competition is a first and marks a turning point because, until now, major projects have always been developed by national or European agencies and financed by States.
A “concept of partnership with industry”
“It will be a service vehicle which will not belong to the ESA, the manufacturers will be able to sell it to other customers”, we insist at the agency’s headquarters in Paris, to clearly mark the development. “We want to introduce the concept of partnership with industry by providing a certain level of funding alongside their private contributions. » For phase 1, which will last two years, those selected will share a budget of 75 million euros. In exchange, they will have to provide at least 20% of the financing over this period, and at least 40% for all phases 1 and 2. The latter, that of development from 2026, will be more substantial since it will lead to a demonstration flight.
Another particularity of this initiative is its speed of execution. Barely six months passed between the launch of the call for tenders, in December 2023, and the choice of European companies today, knowing that those interested submitted their files in February. In addition, the schedule looks tight.
The Exploration Company, the start-up created three years ago by Hélène Huby, plans to launch its capsule in November 2027 Nyx, so called in reference to the goddess of the Night, in Greek mythology. The vessel will be assembled in Munich and the propulsion system manufactured in Mérignac, in Gironde. A demonstrator called “Bikini” because of its small size (60 centimeters in diameter and 40 kilos) will leave during the first flight of Ariane-6 in July. For its part, it is in Turin that TAS will assemble its reusable cargo ship for a first flight in 2028.
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