The European Space Agency has published a tender aimed at beginning the development of a very high-thrust rocket engine for future heavy-lift launch vehicles.Article:
Here's the actual tender: https://esastar-publication-ext.sso.esa.int/ESATenderActions/details/71553"for the heavy liftcapability" implies that this tender is, indeed, to power something like EHLL.However, it could also serve for other purposes. It's similar in thrust to DLR's "SpaceLiner Main Engine", which they proposed would power a large winged RLV. It's also about twice the thrust of a Vulcain or Prometheus engine, so it could power a future upgrade of Ariane 6. In any case, the tender serves "to elaborate further the concept and de-risk the enablingtechnologies and infrastructures at the basis of such a very high thrust propulsion building block". In other words, "write a few papers". Don't expect any actual hardware until money is allocated at the 2025 ministerial council..
As part of ESA’s Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP), the first phase of hot-fire tests has been completed on a new, variable-thrust rocket engine in Warsaw, Poland. The engine is being developed by a Polish consortium investigating new designs for propellant valves and injectors that can vary the thrust of rocket engines powered by more sustainable and storable propellants. Such engines have great potential for use in future space missions and reusable rockets. The new engine is called the Throttleable Liquid Propulsion Demonstrator (TLPD), it is now being dismounted and inspected, with the results being analysed at the site of prime contractor ‘Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation’ (Lukasiewicz-ILOT) in Poland, with partners Astronika and Jakusz SpaceTech, before the next phase of testing begins.
The throttleable engine includes a newly designed fuel injector and control valves. With a thrust of 5kN (compared to the Ariane 6 upper stage engine's thrust of 180 kN), the TLPD engine is perfect for the upper stage of smaller rockets, for in-space vehicles, for launcher kick-stages and exploration missions. The ability to modify its thrust makes it also very interesting for landing spacecraft on Earth, the Moon and beyond.
Pangea Aerospace has been tasked by the European Space Agency (ESA) to identify de-risking technologies and design a Very High Thrust rocket engine for future European launchers.
The company will conduct a detailed market analysis to identify current and future needs, as well as design a very high thrust engine of over 2MN of thrust.
Spanish propulsion startup Arkadia Space announced a contract Feb. 11 to supply monopropellant thrusters to MaiaSpace, a French startup backed by ArianeGroup that is developing a reusable small launch vehicle.Arkadia Space will supply 250-newton thrusters designed for the Reaction Control System of the MaiaSpace launcher.
The first on-orbit testing of an Arkadia Space propulsion system is scheduled to launch in March on a D-Orbit ION Satellite on a SpaceX Transporter 13 rideshare.Arkadia Space developed the 250-newton thrusters with funding from the European Space Agency Future Launchers Preparatory Program.
The Łukasiewicz Research Network’s Institute of Aviation has successfully completed its second hot-fire test campaign for the Throttleable Liquid Propulsion Demonstrator rocket engine.Development of the Throttleable Liquid Propulsion Demonstrator (TLPD) is led by a consortium of Polish companies under ESA’s Future Launchers Preparatory Programme. The engine uses high-test peroxide and ethanol and is capable of producing 5 kN of thrust.
Spanish company Pangea Aerospace developed and tested the first aerospike engine in the world to run on liquid methane and oxygen. This video shows scenes of the engine being tested at the German aerospace center, DLR, test centre in Lampoldshausen Germany in 2021.
In a 23 April update, the Łukasiewicz Research Network’s Institute of Aviation (Łukasiewicz–ILOT) announced that it had been selected by MaiaSpace to develop a rocket engine to power Maia’s Colibri kick stage. According to the announcement, the engine will be based on technology developed by Łukasiewicz–ILOT as part of its Green Bipropellant Apogee Rocket Engine (GRACE) initiative, a project financed by the European Space Agency under the Future Launchers Preparatory Programme.
29 October 2025: ESA Future Space Transportation Autumn sessionHosted by the Directorate of Space Transportation at ESA in Paris, France.This event will provide an information update on the European Space Transportation ecosystem preparation. Autumn focus pertains to the Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP) proposal at CM25, promoting innovation through the preparation of new solutions and accompaniment of new actors towards end-to-end space transportation services for orbital payload delivery, in-orbit assembly, manufacturing, fuelling and experimentation.
The European Space Agency has issued a call for proposals for the second phase of its Reusable Upper Stage Demonstrator project.Initially announced in March 2024, the Reusable Upper Stage Demonstrator project is being managed by ESA’s Space Transportation Technology Coordination Office under the agency’s Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP). The FLPP initiative focuses on developing and maturing critical technologies for future European rockets, as well as upgrades for existing launch systems.
https://spacenews.com/arkadia-space-to-supply-maiaspace-thrusters/ [Feb 12]QuoteSpanish propulsion startup Arkadia Space announced a contract Feb. 11 to supply monopropellant thrusters to MaiaSpace, a French startup backed by ArianeGroup that is developing a reusable small launch vehicle.Arkadia Space will supply 250-newton thrusters designed for the Reaction Control System of the MaiaSpace launcher.
Many satellites and rockets have two types of engines, one for moving large distances and one for controlling their orientation, or attitude. ARIEL (Attitude for Reusable and Innovative European Launchers) is a new thruster developed to be part of a reliable and affordable Reaction Control System that adjusts orientation of space transportation vehicles.ARIEL uses hydrogen peroxide as fuel which is more sustainable and less toxic than the hydrazine commonly used in most reaction control systems. It is one of the first hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thrusters of this size in Europe. Providing thrust of up to 250 N, it could suspend a 25 kg sack of cement on Earth, more than enough to orient a spacecraft or steer a rocket.The European Space Agency (ESA) Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP) prepares European industry for the future space ecosystem, supporting companies with promising technology for the future. The first test firing was done just seven months after signing the initial contract in June 2023. The engine has now passed an extensive test campaign at the Arkadia Space Test Center in the Castellón airport, Spain, reaching technology readiness level six within two years from the contract signature.The project includes tank prototypes that feed the ARIEL thrusters with its propellant, even operating in efficient ‘blowdown mode’ whereby the hydrogen peroxide gases in the tank push the liquid fuel to the engine.Introducing the 250 N ARIEL thrusterARIEL runs on 98% pure highly-concentrated hydrogen peroxide, replacing commonly-used hydrazine with a safer, more sustainable, and cheaper alternative. Used as a fuel for spaceflight, hydrogen peroxide allows for a simpler control system, easier handling on ground, and lower costs compared to using hydrazine. In addition hydrogen peroxide can reduce emissions by up to 40% in the atmosphere compared to hydrazine over a sustainability life-cycle assessment.Testing, 1,2,3Arkadia built a test bench inhouse to withstand the thrust and long burns over repeated cycles needed to thoroughly test ARIEL.Throughout the campaign ARIEL proved itself by performing: • Over 178 seconds of specific impulse in vacuum • Continued steady firing up to 5 minutes • Firing in short pulses of just 40 milliseconds • Over 2000 pulses in total per engine • Over 100 kg of hydrogen peroxide fired per engine
Two companies were selected in this first BEST! call (end 2024): Isar Aerospace and ArianeGroup. Isar Aerospace proposes a demonstrator for a reusable first stage based on its current Spectrum launcher, to prepare future reusable architectures of its launchers. ArianeGroup studies the adaptation of a first stage of Maiaspace’s small launcher to use it as a reusable side booster for Ariane6, as part of potential future evolutions of the launch system.3.3 Reusable upper stage demonstratorsAs noted in §2.2, the priority for developing reusable launch systems in Europe lies in the first stage of launch systems. However, preparing the future of European launchers in the frame of ESA’s strategy also means starting to explore potential reusable upper stages, with competing architectures and use cases.The potential recovery and reuse of upper stages has been the object of two projects since the last ministerial conference:• The CAERUS project, started end 2024, capitalizing on the previous Horizon Europe C³HARME study, the DLR ImPulse project and internal ArianeGroup R&T. Its objective is to define the most appropriate demonstration step to recovery and reuse of an Ariane 6 upper stage using a kitting approach.• A reusable upper stage demonstrator activity conducted since 2024 to prepare European industry for tackling the challenge of a Reusable Upper Stage for future European launch systems, enabling resilience, flexibility and cost-efficiency in front of future launch services markets requiring high cadence and high volume for mega constellation needs, as well as space exploration.In addition, upper stage reusability provides significant freedom to investigate innovative use cases: FLPP will propose to explore in-orbit extensions of the upper stage missions, and generally a swift connection to the future space transportation architecture envisaged in FLPP’s strategy (cf. §2.3).
