By BlueShift | 2025-08-13

The European Space Agency (ESA) is moving forward with a plan to support the development of new launch vehicles.

The agency on July 7 announced it had chosen five rocket companies for the next round of the European Launcher Challenge (ELC), which is aimed at promoting new small and medium-sized launch vehicles and boost competitiveness in Europe, Space.com reported.

The companies include Isar Aerospace and Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) from Germany, Maiaspace from France, PLD Space from Spain and Orbital Express Launch (Orbex), which is based in the United Kingdom.

Announced in November 2023, the ELC includes two components: the first covers launch services from 2026 to 2030, and the second is for the development and demonstration of larger, upgraded launchers.

The ESA in March made a formal call for proposals, and in June, agency officials said they had received 12.

Each of the five preselected companies is eligible for up to €169 million ($198 million) to work on one or both of the components of the challenge.

ESA member states are set to formally commit funding to the initiative in November during the agency's ministerial council.

After the meeting, the ESA will issue a Phase 2 call for proposals restricted to the five preselected candidate companies. It will then award contracts after a final evaluation period.

A sustainable presence

Europe for decades has relied on large Ariane rockets.

The latest Ariane 6 was initially scheduled to enter service in 2020, but repeated delays meant the rocket did not blast off for the first time until July last year.

It carried out its first commercial mission on March 6, blasting off from the Kourou space base in French Guiana with a French military satellite.

The ESA initiated the ELC in response to increasing competition from US companies like SpaceX and delays in the development of the Ariane 6 and Vega-C rockets, according to Military Aerospace.

It seeks to meet the need for smaller, more-flexible launch options designed for small satellites and CubeSats (also called nanosatellites).

The program is seen as an important effort towards developing a sustainable European presence in the growing global launch market.

The rockets of the five companies selected are in various stages of development.

Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket had a first, short-lived flight in March from Norway, with the launcher exploding seconds in flight.

Meanwhile, RFA's RFA One rocket exploded on the pad in the Shetland Islands in August 2024 during a static fire test.

PLD Space conducted a suborbital flight of its Miura 1 rocket in 2023, as a stepping stone toward launching the Miura 5, a two-stage, reusable orbital launch vehicle.

Orbex is developing its Prime microlauncher, while Maiaspace is working on its reusable Maia rocket.