The European Space Agency has published a Request for Information call aimed at assessing the status and ambitions of current and future European launch service providers. The call is part of the preparatory stage of the agency’s European Launcher Challenge initiative.
At the ESA Council meeting in Seville, Spain, in November 2023, ESA member states agreed to create the European Launcher Challenge initiative. While the primary aim of the initiative is to incentivize the creation of sovereign European commercial launch services through ESA acting as an anchor customer, the agency also envisions it having the potential to lead to a sustainable and competitive successor to Ariane 6.
Currently, ESA is working towards publishing a competitive tender in early 2025 for the award of contracts to allow European launch providers to demonstrate their ability to provide the capacity to serve institutional mission needs. To better define this competitive tender and align the challenge in the best possible way to incentivize providers, ESA has published a Request for Information call.
“This Campaign will let economic operators express their views and expectations on the future of European access to space and actively participate in the definition of the European Launcher Challenge,” explains the call.
According to the call, for a launch provider to qualify as “European,” its company registration, decision-making centres, system development, system manufacturing, and launch operations all need to be located in ESA or EU member states.
While this call does state that the competitive tender will be published in early 2025, the awarding of contracts will be delayed until after the European Launcher Challenge initiative is actually submitted for approval and funded during the ESA ministerial-level council meeting in late 2025.
