Exolaunch wins €18 million contract from DLR for small satellite services

Exolaunch, a German based launch management and satellite deployment company, won a €18 million contract with the German space agency, DLR, to help advance its novel small satellite program.

Exolaunch to help Germany build up its satellite industry

This week Exolaunch announced it was awarded an €18 million contract with DLR, the German space agency, to integration, deployment, and other launch services to winners of DLR’s Small Satellite Initiative competition.

While most of us know the names of the companies that build and launch the rockets like SpaceX, ULA, Arianespace, etc. Exolaunch, and many other companies, fill in the gaps between the rocket launcher and satellite manufacturer, providing the tools and knowledge of getting CubeSats into orbit.

We are honoured to have been chosen by the German Space Agency at DLR for the Small Satellite Launch Services contract and proud to contribute to the evolution of New Space in Germany. At Exolaunch, we embrace the challenge of delivering reliable launch solutions and are prepared to bring our legacy of expertise to this partnership.

Dmitriy Sternharz, Exolaunch’s CEO

DLR’s competition will be limited to selected home built CubeSats to launch on German “microlaunchers,” what we more commonly call SmallSat launchers. Europe’s commercial launch market is still in the early stages of development. Some of the nation’s hopefuls include Rocket Factory Augburg, Isar Aerospace, and HyImpulse.

This will be a start to Europe’s need to build a regional competitor to the SpaceX, who has been snatching up European contracts for years. With Arianespace’s delays in getting the Ariane 6 and Vega C operational, SpaceX’s low cost has made it the default option for many.

Light is visible at the end of the tunnel for Europe’s “launch crisis” with more nations, like Germany, getting serious about competitive commercial launch options.

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Small satellites continue to be the new hot stuff

Over the last decade of so there has been a move to smaller, cheaper satellites. Miniaturization of technology is a common maturing of any industry and we are well underway in that stage.

For decades the answer to how to provide in space services has always been large, expensive, delays prone satellites. In some cases that is still the fact but the overall shift continues to be smaller, cheaper, and reactive satellite constellations.

DLR’s competition is setting its industry up right with prioritizing small satellites rather than looking for large ones right away. These lower risk satellites, both to the nation’s budgets and to the company’s bottom line, allow for learning opportunities up front and room for iterative design changes.

NASA has pioneered the way of becoming a customer of its nation’s thriving space sector, making it stronger over time. Hopefully more European countries will follow suit like the DLR as their commercial space sector continues to grow.