ESA selects four European rocket startups for future launches
The European Space Agency (ESA) today awarded the first launch contracts to four European rocket startups, narrowing the previous selection of five rocket companies in its “Launcher Challenger” program designed to develop a competitive independent rocket industry in Europe.
The winning companies are Rocket Factory Augsburg and Isar Aerospace from Germany, PLD from Spain, and MaiaSpace from France, as shown on the right. A fifth startup, Orbex from Great Britain, had gone bankrupt since it was selected in 2025 as the fifth company in the previous phase of the program.
The contracts conclude the second stage of the Challenge whereby shortlisted companies could submit their proposals before April 2026. The proposals were evaluated by an ESA tender evaluation board focusing on criteria including business case, engineering quality, resources, schedule and compliance.
The European Launcher Challenge first requires the launch service providers achieve an orbital launch before 2028 to demonstrate their capacity to deliver.
Rocket Factory, Isar, and PLD all hope to launch before the end of this year, and either have their rockets at the pad awaiting launch or are in the process of shipping their rockets to their launchpad. MaiaSpace hopes to launch in late 2027.
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