WASHINGTON \u2014 The European Space Agency will soon select the finalists for a competition intended to support the development of new launch vehicles by European companies.<\/p>\n
During a panel discussion at the Paris Air Show June 17, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said that the agency received 12 proposals for the European Launcher Challenge, a program to award launch contracts to new vehicles as well as fund demonstrations of upgraded vehicles. Companies are eligible for up to 169 million euros ($199 million) each.<\/p>\n
Those 12 proposals are currently going through technical reviews by ESA, which will select a group of them for funding consideration at the ESA ministerial conference in late November.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be that not all 12 of these proposals will go the ministerial,\u201d he said. \u201cI cannot predict how many will be left after this evaluation period and therefore how many will go to the ministerial.\u201d<\/p>\n
ESA is using an alternative approach to funding the European Launcher Challenge than its traditional georeturn approach, where member states subscribe to programs and are guaranteed contracts in amounts proportional to the funding they provide. Instead, ESA plans to select a group of companies, after which member states at the ministerial will determine which ones they want to fund.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuite a few member states are preparing their decisions in case their candidates are selected as being brought forward for funding at the ministerial conference,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you ask me the number that will go to the ministerial, it\u2019s too early to say, but we should know in a couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA\u2019s director of space transportation, said after the panel that he expected the downselected companies to be announced as soon as July 7.<\/p>\n
ESA has not disclosed the companies that did submit European Launcher Challenge proposals, although some companies widely believed to be participating have been announcing milestones in recent weeks to emphasize the progress they are making.<\/p>\n
MaiaSpace, a French company developing a launch vehicle with a reusable first stage, hosted several French government ministers at its facilities outside Paris June 13. There, the company announced its intent to build a 10,000-square-meter factory there for producing the vehicle.<\/p>\n
Yohann Leroy, chief executive of MaiaSpace, said at the Paris Air Forum earlier the same day that there was demand for small launch vehicles despite competition from rideshare services that have stymied other vehicle developers. Dedicated small launchers are often compared to taxis while rideshares are linked to buses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe market for microlaunchers exist. There are a lot of people who are interested in a taxi, provided the taxi can be the price of the bus,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you want to succeed in launching a taxi, you have to make the price close to the price of the bus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some companies have hinted they are interested in using the European Launcher Challenge to support work on larger vehicles. \u201cMicrolaunchers can never compete in price per kilo\u201d against larger vehicles, said Miguel Bello Mora, chairman of the board of Orbex, said at the same Paris Air Forum panel.<\/p>\n
That company is working on its Prime small launcher but has announced plans for a larger vehicle, Proxima, even before the first Prime launch. \u201cWe believe there is a gap and there is room for several players,\u201d he said. \u201cMedium size is where we target.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not everyone in the European small launch vehicle industry is satisfied with the competition. \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty weird program,\u201d said Stanislas Maximin, executive chairman of Latitude, in an interview. He said he felt the competition was either a way to help companies already far advanced in technology and fundraising or those who have struggled to raise private financing.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, he said Latitude submitted a proposal for the competition. \u201cIt will help us improve the launch system,\u201d he said, such as increasing the payload capacity of its Zephyr rocket from 200 to 300 kilograms. \u201cIt allows us to go faster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Latitude, based in France, is also using the competition to expand its presence in Europe. \u201cWhat it helps us to do is be more European. We\u2019re building relationships with European partners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While he said he was concerned the program will be used by some countries to support companies that don\u2019t necessarily need such assistance, \u201cwe feel like we are in a good position to win it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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