Startups and large companies in the European space industry have expressed interest in the program
The European Space Agency (ESA) is developing a new initiative to support the development of commercial cargo vehicles. As part of this initiative, ESA issued an invitation to its LEO Cargo Return Service program, which involves returning cargo from low Earth orbit to Earth.
This program, announced in November, is reminiscent of NASA's «Commercial Orbital Transportation Services» (COTS), which led to the creation of the SpaceX Dragon and Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft. Those wishing to participate in the program will submit applications by the end of February, after which ESA will select up to three companies for initial contracts worth a total of 75 million euros ($82 million). The distribution of contracts will be made at the next space meeting, scheduled for the end of May in Brussels.
The main goal of the program — have commercial cargo vehicles capable of delivering cargo to the ISS by 2028. But there are many difficulties on the way to this goal. «We have the difficult task of launching two demonstration flights to the ISS before the end of 2028 from two different suppliers. This is a challenge for us at ESA, and obviously it is a challenge for industry too — implement everything necessary in the shortest possible time», — emphasized Samantha Cristoforetti, an ESA astronaut working on the cargo delivery program.
Financing is also a major issue. 75 million euros have already been allocated for the first phase of the program, which will last two years. The second phase, including the development of vehicles and a demonstration mission to the ISS, will be funded at the end of 2025. At the 2025 ministerial meeting, it is expected to receive «in the region of a couple of hundred million» euros for the program, which is significantly less than the amount spent by NASA under the COTS program, where costs in the mid-2000s were $500 million.
In light of these challenges, ESA is seeking industrial partners willing to make significant contributions of their own to fund the program. «We are looking for industrial partners who see this as a business opportunity. Industry must contribute its own funds as we expect co-financing from the private sector», — noted Cristoforetti.
Nevertheless, these challenges do not reduce interest in the program on the part of potential participants. «We don’t yet know from whom and how many proposals we will receive, but I think that there is quite a lot of interest from private business», — noted Cristoforetti, emphasizing that the online presentation for potential participants, held at the beginning of the month, «gathered a lot of listeners».
Potential participants in the LEO Cargo Return Service program announced by ESA include both start-ups and large companies in the European space industry. At one end of the spectrum is startup The Exploration Company, which has already received $40.5 million in funding and plans to launch a small cargo vehicle demonstrator this year.
The Exploration Company's CEO, Gelena Ubi, noted that her company is considering ESA and private space station developers as potential clients. The company is currently focusing on cargo, but is also developing a capsule that includes crew accommodations.
Another participant in the program is ArianeGroup, the main contractor for the Ariane 6 launch vehicle. In 2022, the company introduced the concept of a reusable Smart Upper Stage for Innovative Exploration (SUSIE) spacecraft, which is designed to deliver cargo and crew and will be used with the Ariane 6 rocket. A scale model of SUSIE was tested last year. Cecilia Matisseart, chief strategist of ArianeGroup, announced the possibility of offering SUSIE for the ESA cargo program. She emphasized that their SUSIE cargo vehicle concept is being developed with a pragmatic approach.
ESA's November announcement of the LEO Cargo Return Service competition was a step toward developing a crew ship, as recommended by the agency's advisory panel. The program includes a requirement for vehicles to provide not only the delivery of cargo to the space station, but also the ability to return cargo to Earth.