Dusseldorf The Franco-German spaceship start-up “The Exploration Company” is one of the most ambitious space projects in Europe. The former head of innovation at the Airbus subsidiary Defense and Space, Hélène Huby, wants to set up a transport service for people and materials in space with the start-up. She has now collected a further 40 million euros from venture capital investors.
The founder is also not deterred by the fact that the French-German company Arianegroup recently presented a similar concept under the name “Susie”. Huby left the corporate world because things were going too slowly for her there. Because countries around the world are currently racing into space like they were decades ago.
But Europe is in danger of falling behind in this race. Most recently, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine has thrown back space plans. Because in Russia, Europe has not only lost an important partner for such missions. Space is now even developing into a battlefield.
“The war in Ukraine has created an awareness in Europe that we need independent access to space,” says Huby. This gives the founder a better voice among potential investors and partners. For most start-ups, on the other hand, the Russian war of aggression has worsened the financing conditions.
The Exploration Company aims to provide Europe with the skills to compete in the new Space Race. The company’s space capsules are designed so that they can re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and land safely, complete with crew. In addition, they should dock with space stations, for example to supply astronauts with food, material and fuel. So far, Europe has only been able to do both with the help of other nations such as Russia and the USA.
Huby: Space Capsule Technologies ‘Critical to Europe’s Security’
Huby’s company could change that quickly: The first test flight of the “Nyx” exploration capsule could take place this year, she announces – as soon as the Ariane 6 launch vehicle starts: “Our ‘baby capsule’ is stowed in a container and ready for Departure.”
The plans are also ambitious because the start-up must quickly gain the trust of the state space agencies. Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX succeeded in doing this in the USA. In Europe, on the other hand, so-called “New Space” start-ups have had a hard time against the established competition. However, a rethink is gradually taking place here.
This is what it could look like when the Nyx space capsule flies around the earth.
Ever since Russia withdrew its Soyuz rockets from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana, Europe has had to find other ways to launch satellites. The European space agency itself spoke a few days ago of “a serious crisis in the European launch vehicle sector”.
Warnings from Russia also cause concern. The Kremlin has threatened to shoot down US satellites. These provide the Ukrainians with important data for warfare during the war.
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It is becoming increasingly important for the Bundeswehr to be able to protect its own satellites, said the commander of the space command, Major General Michael Traut, a few days ago at the Handelsblatt conference “Security and Defense” in Berlin. Also with active measures. The commander declined to be more specific.
But he also attaches importance to technologies from the New Space sector and the plans of the spaceship company: “In no other environment are civilian and military uses so closely intertwined as in space travel,” he says. If the technology is foreseeable, this will “of course lead to conceptual considerations in the context of space security”.
Space becomes a battlefield
Hélène Huby knows about the military interest in her technologies. “We are developing two technologies that are critical to Europe’s security,” she says. The capabilities of re-entering the earth’s atmosphere and docking with satellites of all nations are highly sensitive. But she doesn’t want to be more specific.
Instead of military considerations, she wants to emphasize that the capsule can also promote cooperation: “We want to be able to dock with Russian, Chinese, American space stations to build a bridge in the ecosystem and bring European values of cooperation and sustainability into space .”
In order for this to succeed, technical milestones must first be reached. Her company has 50 employees, half of them in Bordeaux and the other half in Munich.
Space exploration as an affordable service.
(Photo: Private)
After the “baby capsule”, which has a diameter of 60 centimeters and weighs 40 kilograms, the next model should be 2.5 meters tall and weigh 1.6 tons. It is scheduled to be sent on a return-to-Earth mission lasting several months in 2026. For 2028 Huby plans the first flight of a capsule to the moon.
In 2023, decisions about manned space travel are pending
The company can hardly achieve its goals on its own. Matthias Wachter, who heads the New Space initiative at the BDI industry association, believes that a major order from the European space agency Esa to develop a spaceship is necessary. To do this, the member states would first have to put their own spaceship on the agenda.
“Without a fundamental political decision at European level, it will be very difficult in purely commercial terms in this area,” says Wachter. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher is said to be aiming for a decision this year. But: “In Germany, the focus is more on climate and sustainability monitoring,” says Wachter.
The industry representative sees this critically. “Without its own spaceship, Europe will only remain passengers of other actors in the long term.” This is particularly problematic in view of the impending end of the International Space Station (ISS) in 2031.
So far, the ISS has been used to agree compensation deals: Europe is only allowed to contribute the important service module for the US moon mission Artemis because it makes a higher contribution to the ISS to compensate for the US investments in this program.
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But soon the US would rely largely on private space stations and launch vehicles. “We Europeans will soon have to buy from private US companies to fly our astronauts into space,” says Wachter. “In this way, we make ourselves dependent and fund their future technology development while we fall even further behind.”
Huby can still hope that those responsible in Germany will also feel the “sense of urgency” – the feeling of urgency that investor Jenny Dreier describes. Her Swedish venture capital firm EQT Ventures is leading the round together with French fund Red River West.
“Last year we discussed in much greater depth which technologies Europe needs,” she says. One result was the decision to invest in “The Exploration Company”: “In our view, an alternative to the US infrastructure is required in space.”
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