Is the European space capability stuck with turn of (this) century technology? We know that European Space Agency (ESA) has a couple of launch platforms, but nothing is reusable. Nothing has landed and been flown again even as test. On this side of the Atlantic, the goal is "rapidly reusable," as in being able to depend on a short inspection and then launch. Nobody has actually achieved that yet, but that's the stated goal. We saw Isar Aerospace launch on Saturday afternoon as planned, a company started by a couple of young engineers from a German university. Isar hasn't successfully launched two of anything.
Ars Technica today devoted an article to The Exploration Company, being led by Hélène Huby (Huby and her company have been featured here before), and went with the headline “Europe may finally have found a space entrepreneur who is meeting the moment.” For her part, Huby said, “We will not be relevant without a massive rocket at a massive cadence.” Sounds right to me! They open by noting Huby seems to suddenly be everywhere.
This week she is serving as one of two envoys, alongside astronaut Thomas Pesquet, at a high-profile International Space Summit convened by French President Emmanuel Macron. The government’s website [in French - SiG] for the event describes her as chief executive of “the fastest-growing space company in Europe.”
Also this week, that firm, The Exploration Company, announced a significant capital raise of $450 million in Series C funding. Although not spectacular by the standards of some US space businesses, this is the largest-ever Series C funding round by a Europe-based space company, and likely the largest funding round ever raised by a female-led company in Europe.
When I led off by saying the European space industry is stuck at turn of the century technology, I meant things like this quote.
So many of the biggest European space projects of this decade feel dated. The flagship rocket, the Ariane 6 vehicle, is flying. But its costs are high, it is fully expendable, and its flight rate of 10 launches a year feels antediluvian in the megaconstellation era. Europe’s response to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation is a project called IRIS², which is already years behind schedule and has seen its estimated cost balloon to more than $15 billion before much metal has even been cut.
"Estimated cost" (which you know is going to be cheaper than reality) is $15 billion and the program is already "years behind schedule?" Who's running this? Gavin Newsom? Who or whatever is going on has led to a situation where it's easy to say Europe's space efforts are going to keep them low on any measures of success. Eric Berger at Ars Technica sees a positive light here.
All of this makes Huby refreshing because she is honest about the situation and has big ambitions. She seems to be one of the only people in Europe who recognizes these problems, speaks publicly about them, and is trying to do something about it.
Huby's background is as an economist, and while there are some flaming basket cases that are university-trained economists, they do tend to be a bit more reality-bound than many other "degreed professionals."
After working in the existing European space industry, Huby founded The Exploration Company. Their first goal was cargo ship similar to the Cargo Dragon SpaceX is flying to the ISS. This resulted in the Nyx spacecraft, now undergoing NASA safety reviews for a cargo mission to the International Space Station as early as November 2028. She is said to also be working on a manned version like the Crew Dragon, which has pretty thoroughly taken over crew flights to the ISS.
Her work in this area could be rewarded in Europe, where there is growing frustration with the United States as a reliable partner in space and a desire to have independent access to orbit for European astronauts. The leader of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschbacher, said this week he hopes to receive a mandate from European leaders to develop this capability by the end of the year. The Exploration Company, which is already deep into the development of a cargo spacecraft, would instantly become one of the frontrunners in a competition to provide crewed service.
That's not all the Exploration Company has in its sights. Remember her quote, “We will not be relevant without a massive rocket at a massive cadence?” They have announced the development of an engine named “Storm,” a full-flow staged combustion engine fueled by liquid oxygen and methane with approximately 400,000 pounds of thrust. This would be used to power a reusable rocket intended to launch 40 metric tons in reusable mode, and 60 tons in expendable mode. An aggressive timeline for the rocket’s development, she said, is 2033. Huby notes that no European company produces anything like that.
At this point, it's entirely appropriate to remark that The Exploration Company has had one, single, partial success in spaceflight to its credit. That's a lot of big talk for the equivalent of a baby. What they have over the big competitors in European Spaceflight is the vision of what they want to do and when. Much like here in the states, the big companies have spent their time seeking government handouts to protect their turf. Sure sounds like “Starliner.” What the US has, and this is probably mostly an effect of being a much larger economy than the European Union, is the billions of dollars that companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Amazon and the smaller companies have invested in space. Add in the many imitators of the US in China, and it's all radically transforming spaceflight.
Hélène Huby, chief executive officer of The Exploration Co., during an interview in London, UK, on Friday, March 8, 2024. Credit: Betty Laura Zapata/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Can they do it? Can The Exploration Company do these things? Good question! We get to see how it progresses. The answer to whether or not the European space industry is dead might well be, "Ask me again in five years."
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