Avio, Esa and the new launchers: how Europe’s rocket industry is changing

As the Italian company becomes a provider of launch services with the Vega-C, the European Space Agency is selecting competitors to develop new “light” space transportation systems. Meanwhile, work is underway with the EU on reusable ones.

BY EMILIO COZZI

Europe is choosing the launchers of the future, while Italy breaks away from the French “umbrella” under Arianespace and moves toward independence. It marks a new step toward European competition in launch services, with the hope of having additional launch vehicles available to place strategic assets into orbit by the end of the decade.

Avio becomes a launcher provider

Vega, the launch vehicle with an Italian “heart” and mostly built in Colleferro, joined the ESA family of launchers in 2012, with commercial services added in 2015. Vega-C, a more powerful version with a larger payload fairing, made its debut in 2022. Until last year, launch services for these two Made-in-Italy rockets were marketed and commercially operated by the French company Arianespace, controlled by ArianeGroup (a joint venture between Airbus and Safran). That is no longer the case.

“For the first time, an Italian company has been authorized to provide space access services, based on its recognized technological and industrial capabilities and its strategic position within the European space industry,” reads Avio’s press release. The Esa resolution of July 5, 2024, transferred to the company the responsibility for the commercialization of Vega-C launches, and on December 18, 2024, Avio signed a framework contract for the acquisition of launch services to support the Agency’s future missions.

In parallel, efforts are underway to speed up operations and launch more frequently. Avio’s stated goal: six launches per year, one every two months, in order to reduce the interval between flights. While this may not be revolutionary, it must be understood within a European context where launch cadence is far below that of the United States (where, it’s worth noting, SpaceX dominates, sometimes launching multiple times a day).

Vega-C is a medium-light launcher capable of carrying up to 2.3 tons into Sun-synchronous orbit and more than 3 tons into low Earth orbit (Leo). It features a dispenser that enables the deployment of multiple small satellite payloads—an essential capability for rideshare missions, which are expected to play a key role. Vega-C, for example, will launch the next satellites of Italy’s Iride constellation, a fully Made-in-Italy project funded by national and EU Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr) funds.

Five new rockets

Then come the newcomers: on July 7, Esa officially announced the preselection of five companies identified through the European Launcher Challenge, the initiative aimed at finding new firms capable of providing launch services and demonstrating increasing capabilities through test flights between 2026 and 2030.

The selected companies are Isar Aerospace (Germany), Rocket Factory Augsburg – Rfa (Germany), Maiaspace (France, a subsidiary of ArianeGroup), Orbex – Orbital Express Launch (United Kingdom), and Payload Space (Spain). They now advance to phase two, which involves a technical and financial dialogue with Esa and its Member States. This phase will culminate in final contracts following the approval of the Ministerial, the conference where the relevant ministers from each Esa Member State gather to decide how much to invest and how to shape space policy for the next three years.

Many players in a race against time

A new phase is now beginning, one that involves loosening the purse strings to allocate €169 million for each contract signed with the contenders.

It’s not yet clear whether all five companies will secure approval at the Ministerial. In the end, there could even be an embarrassment of riches, with several small competitors offering services that are, in essence, quite similar.

The final selection may well be determined by timing, which is extremely tight. The call sets out two main milestones: the selected companies must carry out their first orbital launch by 2027, and by the following year, they must demonstrate “an enhancement of the launch services offered through an orbital flight.” This implies an upgrade not previously achieved, in other words, an improvement over the initial launch.

The state of play

Of the five companies, the only one to have at least lifted off with an orbital launcher is Isar Aerospace, which made an unsuccessful attempt on March 30 from the spaceport on the Norwegian island of Andøya. Its Spectrum rocket climbed a few hundred meters before losing control and crashing into the sea in front of the launch pad, exploding on impact. Spanish company Pld Space launched the Miura 1, a suborbital rocket, in 2023 and is now working on Miura 5, a vehicle designed to carry up to 540 kilograms into Sun-synchronous orbit, slightly less than Spectrum’s 700.

Rfa, on the other hand, suffered a setback last year when the first stage of its Rfa One exploded during a static fire test in preparation for its maiden flight. The incident significantly delayed the debut, which had been planned for early this year. However, RFA (owned by OHB) remains fully in the race. Maiaspace, owned by ArianeGroup and capable of launching up to 1,500 kilograms into orbit or 500 kilograms using a reusable first stage, plans to begin commercial operations in 2026, lifting off from the former Soyuz launch pad at the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.

Finally, Orbex, which will launch from SaxaVord in the Shetland Islands of Scotland, aims to send its small Prime rocket into orbit. Prime is capable of carrying up to 180 kilograms into Sun-synchronous orbit.

Launch and eeuse, as the EU wants

Meanwhile, other developments are underway in different directions, and this is where the European Union comes into play. On June 27, Themis, the demonstrator for the reusable first stage developed by ArianeGroup with Esa’s support, arrived at the Esrange Space Center in Sweden. There, it will carry out the first reuse tests in Europe as part of the SALTO project, reusable Aerospace Launcher Technologies and Operations, which falls under the EU’s Space Research and Innovation work program. This represents an additional, parallel path promoted by the EU to ensure technological autonomy and independent access to space. In this case, the goal is reusability.

In the coming weeks, Themis will perform the first in a series of vertical hop tests to assess its ability to land the first stage of a launcher, just like SpaceX does several times a week.