Rocket Report: Europe joins the commercial launch club; a Ravn X sighting?

Commercial cargo redux … The launch deal follows the award of a service contract to The Exploration Company by the European Space Agency worth 760 million euros ($880 million) to support the development of Nyx, a demonstration mission, and two operational cargo missions. “We started the development of Nyx with private funding only, and we are now at a technical maturity level where ESA and Member States’ public funding can support us massively, as anchor clients, to help us finalize the vehicle,” Huby said.

Does Europe need a massive rocket? Speaking of Huby and The Exploration Company, the company also announced a $450 million Series C funding round this week, Ars reports. As part of this, the company will continue development of the Storm rocket engine, which is projected to have a thrust of about 400,000 pound-feet. This would be used to power a reusable rocket intended to launch 40 metric tons in reusable mode and 60 tons in expendable mode.

How to stay relevant … The expendable Ariane 6 rocket, by contrast, has a maximum lift capacity of about 20 tons. “If Europe wants to stay relevant—we will not be relevant without a massive rocket at a massive cadence,” Huby said during a teleconference with reporters on Tuesday. “And to do that we need a massive engine, and right now this is something we just do not have in Europe.” An aggressive timeline for the rocket’s development, she said, is 2033.

Terran R gets on-ramped by NASA. NASA said this week it has awarded a “Launch Services II” contract to Relativity Space that allows for on-ramping the Terran R rocket into the agency’s launch services program. Accordingly, the Terran R launch service will be available to NASA for future missions, including science, research, and human spaceflight.

Don’t expect Terran R to win awards right away … NASA still wants to see a new rocket like Terran R, which has yet to make its debut, demonstrate success in flight. However, by receiving this contract, Relativity can now follow a pathway for new launch service providers to compete for future missions. The current ordering period covers missions through December 2032.