The three largest aerospace firms from Europe, Airbus, Leonardo, and Thales, announced they will be combining their space divisions into one yet-to-be-named company, all in hopes of better competing with the US commercial space market.
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This is a press released shared to or found by Space Explored but written by the company/agency in question, not the Space Explored team. It has been slightly edited for better reading.
Madrid (Spain), 2 December 2024. PLD Space, a Spanish company specializing in the development of reusable space launchers, has secured an €11 million loan from COFIDES to support the development of the launch site for its MIURA 5 rocket in Kourou, French Guiana. The company will initially invest a total of €16 million in the development, construction, and operation of this launch base, located at the CSG—Europe’s spaceport in Kourou—operated by the French Space Agency (CNES) and the European Space Agency (ESA).
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In what was believed to be the final strand of tests before attempting its first orbital launch, Rocket Factory Augsburg suffered an anomaly during a hot fire test of its first stage and a loss of the vehicle. So what happens now for European launch?
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Rocket Factory Augsburg is gearing up for its first orbital launch attempt of its RFA One rocket. Its spaceport, a set of Islands north of mainland Scotland, is also ready for the company’s launch, the first from the UK’s soil.
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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.
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The United Kingdom Space Agency recently revealed its comprehensive Space Exploration Technology Roadmap, aimed at driving the country’s direction of research, development, and funding allocation over the next 10 years.
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Europe is currently grappling with a temporary setback with its ability to launch payloads into space, prompting a heightened reliance on SpaceX for launching vital science and navigation spacecraft.
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This week Seth and Austin DeSisto discuss the week’s top stories and then dive into the main topic concerning Europe. With the retirement of the Ariane 5 and a lack of any other operational launcher, what does the future look like for European spaceflight?
Yesterday marked the end of an era for European space launches with the final flight of the Ariane 5 rocket. With the mission completed, Europe now finds itself in a precarious position without an available launcher in the short term.
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While the US’s private launch sector has been killing it by developing multiple viable launch systems, Europe’s commercial sector has been stagnating, with only Arianespace capable of any projects, with a lot of help from ESA. However, that is not the case for Rocket Factory Augsburg, which just completed a full-duration hot fire of its privately developed second stage.
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The European Space Agency’s High-Level Advisory Group (HLAG) released a report on the current state of Europe’s human exploration program. It calls for the continent to go all in on space, or risk being left in the dust.
Europe has become a key partner in many of NASA’s programs, including the Artemis Program. However, the continent’s space agency seems to have much more ambitious plans, rather than just helping NASA with its goals. The ESA’s HLAG report makes it clear that its objective should be to bolster its commercial market with its own human exploration program, including low Earth orbit and the Moon.
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