The delivery of crews and cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS) on a regular basis has been carried out so far by only two American companies: SpaceX and Northrop Grumman with Crew Dragon and Cygnus capsules. NASA had hopes for the Boeing Starliner as well, but due to a number of problems and the failure of the last mission, this project is in danger of being shut down. However, European startup The Exploration Company, which involves Germany, France and Italy, is aiming to join space transportation. The company recently raised another $160 million to build Europe’s first reusable Nyx spacecraft.
According to the company, Nyx will be able to carry up to 3,000 kilograms of cargo between Earth and the ISS. The company’s founder, aerospace engineer Hélène Huby, plans to make the capsule’s first commercial launch before the ISS is decommissioned – in 2028. The startup is funded primarily by private investors, she said, which makes it different from giants like SpaceX, which rely heavily on NASA funds.
First successes
The funding was led by Balderton Capital and Plural funds, raising a total of $208 million. Bessemer Venture Partners, NGP Capital and two European funds – French Tech Souveraineté and DeepTech & Climate Fonds – also joined the financing.
The European Space Agency (ESA) also supports the development of European space transportation vehicles. In 2024, the company was awarded a €25 million contract to create low-Earth orbit cargo return services – this contract will run until 2026.
This structure is similar to NASA’s COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) program, which began commercial orbital transportation in 2006. It helped SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation sign multi-billion dollar contracts.
Commercial potential
In addition to ESA support, the startup is actively recruiting commercial partners. About 90% of the company’s 770 million contracts are with private customers such as Vast, Axiom Space and Starlab, which are working on commercial space stations.
The first demonstration flight of the Nyx spacecraft took place this summer on an Ariane 6 rocket, but the mission ended in failure due to a technical malfunction of the rocket. The next test launch, called Mission Possible, is scheduled for 2025 using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.
A look into the future
“We respect SpaceX’s achievements and are eager to learn from them. But we also believe the world needs more competition. We are very aware that we are late, but we need to take that first step,” Huby concludes.
Europe is well on its way to building a competitive space infrastructure that will provide independent access to orbit and open up new opportunities for the commercial use of space.
Earlier we reported on how NASA and ESA called for the ISS to be left in space for the next generations.
Provided by techcrunch.com
