TOKYO \u2014 The European Space Agency has selected five launch vehicle startups to proceed to the next phase of a competition where they could receive contracts for satellite launches and development of upgraded vehicles.<\/p>\n
ESA said July 7 that Isar Aerospace, MaiaSpace, Orbex, PLD Space and Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) were \u201cpreselected challengers\u201d for the European Launcher Challenge. Each company will be eligible for up to 169 million euros ($198 million) in contracts for launching institutional payloads and\/or development and demonstration of upgraded vehicles.<\/p>\n
That funding will be dependent on decisions made by ESA member states at its ministerial conference in late November in Bremen, Germany, where countries will decide what programs to subscribe to and at what funding levels for the next three years.<\/p>\n
ESA adopted an alternative to its georeturn policy for this competition, first selecting eligible companies and then asking countries to contribute, rather than having countries first make contributions and then receive contracts in proportion to their contributions.<\/p>\n
In the statement, ESA said it picked the five companies based on \u201ctechnical maturity, business maturity and sustainability, institutional market planned to be served as well as compliance to procurement rules.\u201d ESA officials last month said that the agency received 12 proposals for the competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n None of the five companies selected has yet to reach orbit with their vehicles, and only Isar has attempted an orbital launch. The first flight of its Spectrum rocket from Norway in March<\/a> suffered a loss of attitude control about half a minute after liftoff, and the vehicle fell back in waters adjacent to the launch pad.<\/p>\n Of the others, PLD Space performed a successful suborbital flight of its Miura 1 rocket<\/a>, a precursor to its Miura 5 orbital launch vehicle, in October 2023. RFA was working towards a first launch of its RFA ONE rocket when the first stage intended for that launch was destroyed during a static-fire test<\/a> in August 2024.<\/p>\n In a social media post<\/a>, RFA said it proposed both to launch ESA payloads on the current version of RFA ONE as well as develop an upgraded Block 2 version with increased payload capacity. \u201cThis is a major milestone for us \u2013 and a strong vote of confidence in our technical roadmap, commercial strength, and long-term vision,\u201d the company stated.<\/p>\n