The best way to test new space technologies is to actually fly them in space. Today the European Space Agency signed on behalf of the European Commission a series of contracts with small satellite makers from across our continent to ensure rapid access to orbit through rideshare services for future European innovations.
The contract signing took place at the 17th European Space Conference in Brussels, Belgium, and is part of the In-Orbit Demonstration and Validation (IOD/IOV) programme managed by ESA on behalf of the European Commission. The contracts were awarded to Aerospacelab, Berlin Space Technologies, D-Orbit, ISISPACE, LuxSpace and Open Cosmos.
“In-orbit demonstration is a dynamic field, requiring flexibility and responsiveness to maximize its potential,” comments Dietmar Pilz, ESA’s Director of Technology, Engineering and Quality.
“To enhance the agility of the programme, ESA and the European Commission have decided to integrate rideshare opportunities, which offer experiments a secure and rapid path to orbit on commercial missions. This is a win-win: the experiment benefits from a quick service, while the mission owner can optimise their available capacity by accommodating additional payloads.”
Ekaterini Kavvada, Director of Secure and Connected Space at the European Commission, adds: “With the creation of this pool of European rideshare providers, we continue the paradigm shift in our procurement approach acting as anchor customers for industry, adopting a faster service-oriented approach and onboarding new players from six different EU countries.
“Enhancing the competitiveness of the European space sector is the major driver of our continuous support to innovation. IOD/IOV is the new space gateway open to the whole ecosystem.”