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European Launcher Challenge
The European Launcher Challenge (ELC) is a programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) aiming to support new European space launch capabilities by funding the development of small and medium orbital launch vehicles. Within ELC, the agency plans to select companies that will be awarded contracts for launch services in the period 2026-2030 (component A) and launch service capacity upgrade demonstrations (component B). The programme was initiated in November 2023 and a funding decision is expected at ESA Council of Ministers in November 2025. ESA has allotted a maximum of €169 million per company. Timeline ESA Council announced the European Launcher Challenge in Seville, Spain in November 2023. Preselection On 24 March 2025, ESA has officially published a call for proposals for ELC. By June 2025, ESA announced that it had received 12 proposals for the programme and on 7 July 2025, the agency has preselected five companies for further competition: * Isar Aerospace * MaiaSpac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astronautics. Aerospace organizations research, design, manufacture, operate, maintain, and repair both aircraft and spacecraft. The border between space and the atmosphere has been proposed as above the ground according to the physical explanation that the air density is too low for a lifting body to generate meaningful lift force without exceeding orbital velocity. This border has been called the Kármán line. Overview In most industrial countries, the aerospace industry is a co-operation of the public and private sectors. For example, several states have a civilian space program funded by the government, such as NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States, European Space Agency in Europe, the Canadian Space A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated population of over 449million as of 2024. The EU is often described as a ''sui generis'' political entity combining characteristics of both a federation and a confederation. Containing 5.5% of the world population in 2023, EU member states generated a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around €17.935 trillion in 2024, accounting for approximately one sixth of global economic output. Its cornerstone, the European Union Customs Union, Customs Union, paved the way to establishing European Single Market, an internal single market based on standardised European Union law, legal framework and legislation that applies in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where the states ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 in the context of European integration. Its 2025 annual budget was €7.7 billion. The ESA Human and Robotic Exploration programme includes human spaceflight (mainly through participation in the International Space Station programme); as well as the launch and operation of missions to Mars and Moon. Further activities include science missions to Jupiter, Mercury, the Sun, Earth observation, Asteroid impact avoidance and Telecommunications missions, designing launch vehicles; and maintaining Europe's Spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou (French Guiana). Further programmes include space safety, satellite navigation, applications and commercialisation. The main European launch vehicle Ariane 6 is operated through Arianespace ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Launch Vehicle
A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage rocket, but the term is more general and also encompasses vehicles like the Space Shuttle. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, supported by a missile launch control center, launch control center and systems such as vehicle assembly and fueling. Launch vehicles are engineered with advanced aerodynamics and technologies, which contribute to high operating costs. An orbital spaceflight, orbital launch vehicle must lift its payload at least to the boundary of space, approximately and accelerate it to a horizontal velocity of at least . Suborbital spaceflight, Suborbital vehicles launch their payloads to lower velocity or are launched at elevation angles greater than horizontal. Practical orbital launch vehicles use chemical prope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seville
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville has a municipal population of about 701,000 , and a Seville metropolitan area, metropolitan population of about 1.5 million, making it the largest city in Andalusia and the List of metropolitan areas in Spain, fourth-largest city in Spain. Its old town, with an area of , contains a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising three buildings: the Alcázar of Seville, Alcázar palace complex, the Seville Cathedral, Cathedral and the General Archive of the Indies. The Seville harbour, located about from the Atlantic Ocean, is the only river port in Spain. The capital of Andalusia features hot temperatures in the summer, with daily maximums routinely above in July and August. Seville was founded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isar Aerospace
Isar Aerospace is a German aerospace company based in Ottobrunn near Munich. The company was founded in 2018. The company is named after a river that flows through Munich. Development The company is developing Spectrum, a two-stage, liquid-fueled rocket designed to launch 1,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit. Isar Aerospace intends to manufacture 80% of the rocket themselves, using primarily technology from the tech firms in the area surrounding Munich. A launch license was issued by the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on 17 March 2025. The launch occurred on 30 March 2025 but fell back to earth after losing control. Funding In 2018 Isar Aerospace received first angel investment from early SpaceX leader Bulent Altan and others. In April 2020 Isar Aerospace closed US$17M in Series A funding led by Earlybird and Airbus Ventures to build its space platform. In December 2020, the company got an additional €75 million ($91 million) in funding led by Lakestar and with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MaiaSpace
ArianeGroup (formerly Airbus Safran Launchers) is an aerospace company based in France. A joint venture between Airbus and Safran, the company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris. It consists of three core groups: aerospace, defence, and security. ArianeGroup has developed its next-generation two-stage Ariane 6 launch vehicle, which succeeded the Ariane 5 rocket, that had more than 110 launches. The new vehicle offers two variants that will be capable of carrying between 10,350 and 21,650 kilograms. The first launch of Ariane 6 occurred on 9 July 2024. If the company's task is to develop and manufacture the launch vehicles, Arianespace acts as the launch service provider for them. Meanwhile, another subsidiary, ArianeWorks, is tasked with developing next-generation technologies such as the reusable Themis rocket booster. ArianeGroup also notably manufactures France's M51 nuclear submarine-launched ballistic missile. As of 2016, ArianeGro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orbex
Orbital Express Launch Ltd., or Orbex, is a United Kingdom-based aerospace company that is developing a small commercial orbital rocket called Prime. Orbex is headquartered in Forres, Moray, in Scotland and has subsidiaries in Denmark and Germany. Orbex may build its future launch complex, Sutherland spaceport, on the A' Mhòine peninsula in the county of Sutherland, northern Scotland, if and when deemed necessary. Overview The company was founded in 2015 as Moonspike Ltd., with the goal of crowdfunding a private spacecraft mission to the Moon. A Kickstarter campaign running from 1 October to 1 November 2015 raised less than £79,000 out of a goal of £600,000, rendering Moonspike ineligible for the funds. Moonspike was renamed Orbital Express Launch Ltd. in 2016, with the company now aiming to provide commercial launch services of nano- and microsatellites, especially CubeSats, to polar and Sun-synchronous low Earth orbits. In July 2018, Orbex secured £30 million in public and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PLD Space
Payload Aerospace S.L. (PLD Space) is a Spanish company developing two partially-reusable launch vehicles called Miura 1 and Miura 5. Miura 1 is designed as a sounding rocket for sub-orbital flights to perform research or technology development in microgravity environment and/or in the upper atmosphere. Furthermore, Miura 1 is also serving as the technological demonstrator of the orbital launcher Miura 5. Miura 5 will provide orbital launch capabilities for small payloads such as CubeSats, that need a flexible and dedicated launch vehicle and therefore can not fly with traditional launch vehicles. It is being designed to deliver a total payload mass up to into low Earth orbit. Recovery of the first stage would be by the use of parachutes and splashdown for re-use. History PLD Space was founded in 2011 by Raúl Torres, Raúl Verdú and José E. Martínez in Elche, Spain, and as of 2019 it employed 70 people. In August 2017 the company headquarter moved to new facilities in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rocket Factory Augsburg
Rocket Factory Augsburg AG (RFA) is a German NewSpace start-up located in Augsburg. It was founded in 2018 with the mission to build rockets just like cars. Its multistage rocket, RFA One, is currently under development. , it had been scheduled to launch during the summer of 2024; however, an anomaly during a first stage static fire test in August 2024 resulted in destruction of the stage, and the launch has been postponed. History General Rocket Factory Augsburg was founded as a spin-off of OHB SE in 2018 by Jörn Spurmann ( CCO of RFA), Stefan Brieschenk ( COO of RFA), Hans Steiniger (CEO of MT Aerospace) and Marco Fuchs (CEO of OHB SE). As of 2021, Spurmann, Brieschenk, Steiniger, Fuchs, Stefan Tweraser (CEO of RFA), and Jean-Jacques Dordain (Chairman) made up the board of RFA. OHB SE and Apollo Capital Partners GmbH are investors. In March 2021 RFA relocated to a new headquarters facility in Augsburg. The company employs more than 300 people from more than 30 count ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of European Space Agency Programmes And Missions
The European Space Agency (ESA) operates a number of space missions, both individually and in collaborations with other space agencies such as Japanese JAXA, U.S. NASA, Chinese CNSA, as well as space agencies of ESA member states (eg. French CNES, Italian ASI, German DLR, Polish POLSA). A staple of the ESA's Science Doctrine is the Cosmic Vision Programme, a series of space science missions chosen by ESA to launch through competitions, similar to NASA's Discovery and New Frontiers programmes. It follows the Horizon 2000 and Horizon 2000+ programmes which launched notable missions such as '' Huygens'' (Titan lander), ''Rosetta'' (comet orbiter and lander), and ''Gaia'' (astrometry telescope). These missions are divided into two categories: "Sun and Solar System", space probes studying the Solar System (eg. Solar Orbiter studying the Sun and JUICE currently on its way to Jupiter) and "Astrophysics", space telescopes contributing to interstellar astronomy (eg. CHEOPS charact ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Private Spaceflight
Private spaceflight is any spaceflight development that is not conducted by a government agency, such as NASA or ESA. During the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Union and United States pioneered space technology in collaboration with affiliated design bureaus in the USSR and private companies in the US. They entirely funded both the development of new spaceflight technologies and the operational costs of spaceflight. Following a similar model of space technology development, the European Space Agency was formed in 1975. Arianespace, born out of ESA's independent spaceflight efforts, became the world's first commercial launch service provider in the early 1980s. Subsequently, large defense contractors began to develop and operate space launch systems, which were derived from government rockets. In the United States, the FAA has created a new certification called Commercial Astronaut, a new occupation. In the 2000s, en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
