WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency and European Commission have selected five launch companies to participate in a new program to provide flight opportunities for new technologies, a sign of a greater role the European Union seeks to play in launch.
In a ceremony during the European Space Conference in Brussels Jan. 23, ESA and European Commission officials announced the launch companies that will participate in the European Flight Ticket Initiative. The effort, announced last fall, is intended to stimulate demand for European launch services by allowing them to compete for missions in the EU’s In-Orbit Demonstration and Validation technology program.
“The objective is to create a win-win situation for European operators looking for demonstration or qualification of technologies or subsystems in orbit, and stimulating the European small launcher sector through public funding of launch services,” said Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA’s acting director of space transportation, at the event.
Each of the companies will receive a “frame” contract as part of the initiative, allowing them to compete for task orders for launching specific missions. Officials did not disclose the anticipated value of those contracts, or how many launch companies competed to participate in the program.
Four of the companies selected for the Flight Ticket Initiative are startups working on small launch vehicles: Isar Aerospace, Orbex, PLD Space and Rocket Factory Augsburg. None of them have yet conducted an orbital launch but expect to do so within the next two years.
“This represents for Orbex an important milestone,” said Miguel Belló Mora, the company’s new chief executive, arguing that the selection offered confidence to its shareholders and its employees.
The fifth company was Arianespace, which will offer rideshare launches on its Vega C and Ariane 6 rockets. “We see the importance of smaller satellites, the impact and the power that these…
Read the full article here