European Launcher Challenge industry day

On 8 November 2024 players in the European Launcher Challenge gathered at ESA’s technical heart in The Netherlands together with ESA and the European Commission, showcasing the large and diverse network of the European rocket industry and spaceports.

The European Launcher Challenge was announced in Seville, Spain, in November 2023. This initiative was the result of the ESA Council deciding to prepare the future of European space transportation by promoting a greater choice for European access to space, to increase competitiveness of European launch services. 

ESA’s director of Space Transportation Toni Tolker-Nielsen welcomed the industrial players by setting the scene: “In the short and medium term the ESA-developed family of launchers Ariane and Vega are ensuring autonomous access to space for Europe,” said Toni, “through the European Launcher Challenge we are implementing a transition to a more diverse European transport sector to develop, test and demonstrate a greater choice of services, for the benefit of European autonomy and competitiveness, with a huge potential for growth.”

The European Launcher Challenge adopts a new approach to securing rocket flights whereby companies, based in ESA or EU Member States, on the way to demonstrate new launch services serving European institutional needs, the launch companies will have to pass milestones on time, to unlock ESA payments and to validate that the launch service deployment is on track.