Over the past three weeks, our propulsion team, Airborne Engineering Ltd, and SPEX Group combined their facilities and expertise to run the Huracan thrust-chamber through its most rigorous verification tests yet, completing 11 hot-fires, validating the 4th design iteration and debuting our internally-developed igniter. During this campaign we shifted to a lighter, simpler chamber architecture that trims production time, and we debuted our own GOX/GCH4 igniter. It lit the engine every single time, with zero missed starts, despite the well-known difficulty of igniting a LOX-methane engine.
Agile Space Industries will provide the in-space propulsion system for The Exploration Company’s (TEC) Nyx reusable spacecraft, the companies announced today.Under the agreement, TEC will integrate an undisclosed number of the CO-based propulsion startup’s DS250 bipropellant rocket thrusters into the outer mold line of the Nyx spacecraft for TEC’s upcoming ISS supply run in 2028.It’s in the name: The contract is the result of a rapid development process, in which Agile designed, 3D-printed, assembled, and hotfire-tested the DS250 in just 10 weeks.
IA summaryMunich-based startup The Exploration Company has recruited NASA veteran Kathy Lueders as a key executive to accelerate Europe's space ambitions. Lueders, who oversaw human spaceflight programs like Artemis at NASA, joins to enhance technical and strategic capabilities amid the intensifying global space race. Founde Huby hailed the hire as pivotal for commercializing space travel, backed by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius' funding support. This move integrates American expertise to position the firm as a European contender against U.S. and Chinese rivals.
QuoteIA summaryMunich-based startup The Exploration Company has recruited NASA veteran Kathy Lueders as a key executive to accelerate Europe's space ambitions. Lueders, who oversaw human spaceflight programs like Artemis at NASA, joins to enhance technical and strategic capabilities amid the intensifying global space race. Founde Huby hailed the hire as pivotal for commercializing space travel, backed by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius' funding support. This move integrates American expertise to position the firm as a European contender against U.S. and Chinese rivals.Münchner Start-up holt Nasa-Managerin Lueders
At The Exploration Company, we are advancing the design of Nyx Earth. As part of this work, we have sized and characterised the micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) shield. Our first test campaign took place at Fraunhofer EMI, where we conducted hypervelocity impact tests up to 9 km/s.These results validate our protection architecture and feed detailed design so we can bring payloads back safely from orbit. This activity is part of the LEO Cargo Return Service (LCRS) in partnership with European Space Agency - ESA.
The Exploration Company (TEC) announces the award and contract signature with European Space Agency (ESA) of In-Space Proof-of-Concepts 1 (InSPoC-1) Phase B2 and its selection for subsequent definition phases C, D, and E Within ESA’s programme for future space transportation, FLPP. This marks an historic milestone toward European routine, commercial in-orbit operations in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Building on Nyx, TEC’s modular orbital vehicle currently progressing through NASA’s certification process for docking with the International Space Station, InSPoC-1 broadens the company’s offer into commercial in-orbit services by demonstrating prepared and collaborative docking between two commercial spacecraft and the transfer of storable propellant.The Exploration Company leads a European consortium that includes Thales Alenia Space, GMV, SENER, Almatech, and CDS. The InSPoC-1 mission scenario pairs TEC’s Oura spacecraft with a targeted cooperating LEO client spacecraft, enabling a representative end-to-end demonstration of cooperative rendezvous, docking, refilling, and power and data exchange.Phase B2 focuses on raising to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 the technologies required for safe and repeatable operations between two spacecraft.The work program includes: • Safe rendezvous and proximity operations to enable cooperative and prepared docking • Demonstration of non-cryogenic propellant transfer between two LEO spacecraft • Power and data transfer across a docked configuration • Operational procedures, autonomy, and Fault Detection, Isolation, and Recovery (FDIR) tuned to mission safety and repeatabilityInSPoC-1 also includes structured engagement with European industry through a Users’ Club and dedicated working groups to converge on baseline European interfaces. Priorities include a passive docking interface compatible with European active docking subsystems and a reference RPOD sequence that supports safe multi-provider operations. Draft baselines will be shared during Phase B2 with the objective of easing adoption by European space prime contractors and accelerating the path from demonstration to operational services.The Exploration Company views InSPoC-1 as an enabler to develop European solutions for the commercial in-orbit services market and as a foundation for dual-use scenarios where the same technologies support governmental applications. Precision Rendezvous, Proximity Operations, and Docking (RPOD), cooperative docking, non-cryogenic refuelling, and robust power and data interconnects contribute to resilience, mission flexibility, and European autonomy in orbit.
During the last test campaign in Bordeaux, we tested a #resonanceigniter, an innovative ignition system that uses acoustic resonance from an underexpanded jet of propellants impinging on a cavity. When the parameters are tuned, the interaction drives strong pressure oscillations inside the cavity. Those oscillations heat the resident gas until it can ignite the chosen fuel-oxidizer mix, without spark plugs, glow plugs, or torch igniters.The campaign did what we needed it to do. We built internal know-how on the device’s working principles, tried alternative geometries, and compared ignition strategies. The data now feeds a second iteration aimed at integrating this igniter into the combustors of our high-thrust engine program.
[16:30] NyX: Preliminary Design Review and Safety Review passed in 2025, Critical Design Review will complete in "Fall 2026".
After a successful campaign this autumn we are glad to share a concrete milestone on Nyx roadmap. We poured in house our first #ZURAM thermal protection tiles and used it to drive industrialization ramp-up. ZURAM is a ablative carbon-phenolic thermal protection material developed in collaboration with German Aerospace Center (DLR) for atmospheric reentry. It uses a rigid, highly porous carbon fiber preform that is impregnated with phenolic resin, which cures into an aerogel-like matrix. This architecture gives low thermal conductivity while the ablative char layer handles peak heat flux during entry. After small-format trials, we stepped up to representative 600 by 600 millimeter plates. Those are now in characterization with non-destructive, thermal, mechanical, and plasma tests to lock the recipe with data. The line is the outcome of a structured competence transfer with DLR. We learned their artisanal process and re-engineered it for rate and repeatability so it can feed flight production. The target is clear: qualify the industrial tool by end of January 2026. The front shield alone needs about 80 tiles, so the system is sized for scale.
The oxidizer pump of our cryogenic lunar engine #Huracan was successfully tested across its operating domain in liquid nitrogen, only a few weeks after commissioning our new test bench at our facilities in Bordeaux. Performance, endurance, and heavy duty tests achieved target pressures and efficiencies. Next steps are set. The fuel pump is being integrated for liquid nitrogen tests, and the oxidizer pump is scheduled for liquid oxygen testing in January 2026.
The Exploration Company is developing a spacecraft designed to dock with and refuel satellites in orbit as part of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) In-Space Proof-of-Concepts (InSPoC) initiative.
