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The European Space Agency has given the go-ahead for its attempt to create a European version of SpaceX. On Wednesday, it selected two companies to develop commercial cargo services to the International Space Station.
The Exploration Company, a Franco-German start-up founded just three years ago, and Thales Alenia Space, a Franco-Italian space systems provider, beat out several other candidates and received initial funding of 25 million euros each to build one commercially credible service in orbit by 2028. A second round of funding, expected to amount to hundreds of thousands of euros, will be decided at the next ESA ministerial meeting in 2025.
The move marks ESA’s first concrete step toward replicating a strategy pioneered nearly 20 years ago by the U.S. space agency Nasa, in which it buys flight services from commercial companies rather than commissioning the development of rockets and spacecraft.
NASA’s strategy of first allocating development funds and then entering into fixed-price service contracts was crucial to the success of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is now one of the world’s most reliable providers of launch, cargo and crew services for the ISS.
“The signing of the contracts for low Earth orbit cargo return services shows how ESA has modernized to meet the needs of the next era of the space economy,” said Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General, who has been pushing for a more commercial approach since his appointment in procurement to promote the European space sector and reduce costs.
ESA hopes that the vehicles could even be adapted for manned space flights or lunar missions.
“We want to have evolutionary capabilities that enable either manned transport to low Earth orbit or the return of cargo from the lunar gate [the space station being developed by Nasa and partners which will orbit the Moon]“said Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA’s director of human and robotic exploration, in a recent interview with the Financial Times.
The strategy is based on NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, launched in 2006. However, the sums provided by ESA are far less than those that made SpaceX successful. NASA initially awarded more than $400 million to two companies, including SpaceX, to develop a vehicle capable of providing resupply services to the ISS, and within two years secured fixed-price contracts worth $3.4 billion.
The ESA only has 75 million euros available for this first phase. The 25 million euros not allocated in Wednesday’s announcement were to be awarded to a third bidder, believed to be MaiaSpace, a subsidiary of France’s ArianeGroup.
But his initial proposal was rejected. Either the company will revise its design or the remainder will go to the two current winners, who will submit additional proposals to improve the performance of their vehicles, said a person familiar with the discussions.
Even before ESA launched the cargo vehicle competition last December, both TEC and Thales Alenia Space were working on their own cargo vehicle designs.
TEC, which has raised around $70 million in funding since its founding in 2021, said the deal is “a milestone” for its Nyx vehicle. ESA has become an anchor customer, which is important for NASA certification, it said.
Thales Alenia Space said the cargo program comes “at a time when the space exploration landscape is rapidly evolving, with a mix of institutional and commercial players launching missions to explore low Earth orbit, the Moon and Mars.” Its aim is to “raise the bar in terms of innovation and efficiency, while strengthening the company’s role as a major player in the coming space economy.”