The Exploration Company has revealed that just over three years after its founding, it has already secured $770 million (€704.5 million) in contracts.
Founded in 2021, The Exploration Company is an in-space logistics company developing a reusable space capsule called Nyx. The capsule is designed to be modular, allowing the company to offer cargo and potentially crew transportation services to and from low Earth orbit, lunar orbit, and the lunar surface.
During a presentation at the International Space Station Research & Development Conference (ISSRDC), The Exploration Company’s chief commercial officer, Dana Baki, outlined the company’s progress since its founding. According to Baki, the company has raised $70 million in funding and grown to 130 employees across four countries. The headline figure was, however, the $770 million in contracts won, of which 10% came from space agencies and the other 90% from private space station providers Axiom Space, Vast, and Starlab.
The Exploration Company’s first demonstration mission was launched aboard the inaugural flight of the Ariane 6 rocket last month. While the rocket did not deploy the Bikini demonstrator because of an issue with its upper stage, the company did gather valuable data and, according to Baki, “derisked a lot of what needed to be derisked with the mission.”
Mission Possible is the company’s second demonstration mission and is slated to be launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 in the second quarter of 2025. According to Baki, the company built the two-tonne capsule over two years at a cost of $20 million.
Mission Possible will be the first to carry customer payloads. It is capable of carrying up to 300 kilograms, a capacity that the company has completely sold. According to Baki, the company is currently moving forward with integrating the mission’s payloads and aim to ship the capsule to SpaceX before the end of the year.
After deployment from the Falcon 9 upper stage, the Mission Possible flight will only last around three hours. After that, the capsule will reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and be recovered after splashing down off the coast of Hawaii.
Once Mission Possible is complete, The Exploration Company will begin work towards Mission Odyssey, the first flight of a full-scale Nyx spacecraft. The mission will bring 4 tonnes of cargo to the International Space Station to fulfill its European Space Agency LEO Cargo Return Services contract. This launch is expected to take place in 2027.
Nyx Pricing
In addition to providing an overview of the company’s progress, Baki also revealed specific pricing for both its low Earth orbit and lunar surface transport services.
Pricing for The Exploration Company’s low Earth orbit transportation service will be determined by whether a customer needs pressurized or unpressurized cargo space. Pressurized cargo space will start at $25,000 per kilogram, while unpressurized cargo space will start from as little as $20,000 per kilogram. According to the company’s website, full missions to low Earth orbit aboard Nyx will cost approximately $150 million.
The Exploration Company plans to launch its first mission to the lunar surface in 2029. The company’s lunar lander will be capable of transporting two tonnes to the surface of the Moon at a cost of around $200,000 per kilogram.
