ESA fills its coffers for launcher challenge. The European Space Agency (ESA)’s European Launcher Challenge received a significant financial commitment from its member states during the agency’s Ministerial Council meeting last week, European Spaceflight reports. The challenge is designed to support emerging European rocket companies while giving ESA and other European satellite operators more options to compete with the continent’s only operational launch provider, Arianespace. Through the programme, ESA will purchase launch services and co-fund capacity upgrades with the winners. ESA member countries committed 902 million euros, or $1.05 billion, to the program at a recent Ministerial Council meeting.
pre-selection of competitors … In July, ESA selected two German companies-Isar Aerospace and Rocket Factory Augsburg-To lead the next phase of the initiative with Spain’s PLD Space, France’s MiaSpace and UK’s Orbex. ESA then negotiated with the governments of each company’s home country to raise funds to support the effort. Germany, with two companies on the shortlist, is a surprisingly large contributor to the programme, contributing more than 40 percent of the total budget. France contributed about 20 percent, Spain funded about 19 percent, and the UK contributed about 16 percent. Norway paid 3 percent of the launcher challenge’s budget. Denmark, Portugal, Switzerland and the Czech Republic contributed smaller amounts.
Europe at the service of South Korea. South Korea’s latest Earth observation satellite was delivered into sun-synchronous orbit on Monday afternoon after a launch aboard a Vega C rocket by Arianespace, Spaceflight Now reports. Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite-7 (COMPSAT-7) mission was launched from the spacecraft based in French Guiana, Europe. About 44 minutes after liftoff, the COMPSAT-7 satellite was deployed into SSO at an altitude of 358 miles (576 kilometers). “By launching the CompSat-7 satellite, which is set to significantly enhance South Korea’s Earth observation capabilities, Arianespace is proud to support an ambitious national space program,” Arianespace CEO David Cavalollese said in a statement.
something rare …The launch of COMPSAT-7 is a rare one for Arianespace, which has dominated the international commercial launch market. It is the first time in more than two years that Arianespace has launched a satellite for a customer outside Europe. The backlog of light-class Vega C rockets is filled almost exclusively with payloads for the European Space Agency, the European Commission or national governments in Europe. Arianespace’s larger Ariane 6 rocket has 18 launches reserved for the US-based Amazon LEO broadband network. (Submitted by EllPeaTea)
South Korea’s domestic rocket explodes again. South Korea’s domestic space rocket Nuri lifted off from the Naro Space Center on November 27 carrying a CAS500-3 technology demonstration and Earth observation satellite, as well as 12 small CubeSat rideshare payloads, Yonhap news agency reported. The 200-ton Nouri rocket debuted in 2021 after it failed to reach orbit in a test flight. Since then, the rocket has successfully reached orbit three times. This mission marked the first time for Hanwha Aerospace to oversee the entire assembly process as part of the government’s long-term plan to hand space technologies over to the private sector. The fifth and sixth launches of the Nuri rocket are planned for 2026 and 2027.
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