ESA Aims for Space Cargo Contest by 2028

ESA Signals Intent to Foster Commercial Competition in Space Cargo Services

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced its plans to encourage commercial competition in the delivery of space cargo return services. This decision was made at the ESA Space Summit held in Seville.

During the summit, the ESA introduced the idea of a competition open to "innovative companies based in Europe" for a space cargo service. The competition aims to have a European commercial provider deliver supplies to the International Space Station by 2028 and return cargo to Earth.

The agency also stated that the service vehicle could potentially evolve into a crew vehicle and serve other destinations if Member States express interest.

Communication #52–2023, titled "Ministers back Europe’s sustainable and competitive space ambitions," outlines the decisions made at the summit. The document highlights three main objectives: harnessing space for a greener future, taking decisive steps in exploration, and ensuring autonomous access to space while preparing for a more competitive next generation of launchers.

Regarding cargo competitiveness, the ESA emphasizes the need for Europe to maintain technical and industrial capacity for uninterrupted access to space. The agency states, "Ministers have launched a new competitive European ambition in space transportation to empower Europe to regain its commercial position, reduce the need for public funding, and retain its place in the world by making ESA an anchor customer and enabler of commercial space activities and services."

Public funding has already been secured for the initial stages of the project, with private contributions being sought through the competition. Anna Christmann, Federal Government Coordinator of German Aerospace Policy, expressed her support for the initiative, stating, "Member States have enabled the first steps towards innovative and competitive approaches that will revolutionize how Europe secures its future access to space as well as its role in exploration."

NASA has already selected SpaceX as the first commercial provider to deliver cargo, experiments, and other supplies to the agency's Gateway in lunar orbit. The United Kingdom, although a full member of the European Space Agency, is not part of the European Union.

Image: ESA – the European Service Module structure. It is pictured arriving at the Airbus integration hall in Bremen, from its Thales Alenia Space manufacturing site in Turin. According to the ESA, the structure is due to fly on Artemis III mission by 2024, taking the first woman and next man to land on the Moon.

For more information, you can read the original ESA announcement here. Additionally, you can find historical context and coverage of Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle and its relation to the European Service Module (ESM) in this article by The Register.

Source: The Register