On Wednesday 27 August, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the signing of five contracts with Avio and Isar Aerospace as part of the Flight Ticket Initiative. The Flight Ticket Initiative is a collaboration between ESA and the European Commission for European companies and institutions to test and prove new products and applications in space.
The agreements between ESA and Avio will enable three missions to be carried out on board the Vega-C rocket as auxiliary passengers from Kourou.
The Spanish company Persei will get to operate its E.T. Pack mission to demonstrate a solution to deorbit satellites using a kilometre-long aluminium tape that will be extended from the satellite, according to the Agency. The German Aerospace Centre (DLR) will fly its Pluto+ cubesat to demonstrate a high-performance-yet-compact avionic system. Finally, the second satellite in the constellation of Earth observation satellites, GapMap-1, from the French company Grasp, will be launched aboard a Vega-C rocket.
The agreements between ESA and Isar Aerospace will enable two missions to be carried out on the Spectrum launch vehicle from the Andøya spaceport in Norway. Infinite Orbits will launch two satellites to demonstrate a space debris cleanup mission, while the Dutch company Isispace will manage the integration and in-orbit operation of three cubesats.
The next deadline for applications to benefit from the initiative is 1 October: https://aeur.eu/f/i5s
ESA and JAXA could strengthen their cooperation. ESA has also announced that the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has applied for funding to participate in the Apophis Rapid Mission for Space Security (Ramses). This mission, which aims to accompany the Apophis asteroid on a safe but exceptionally close flyby of the Earth in 2029, is due to receive support, or not, at the European Space Agency’s Ministerial Council in November. The satellite is expected to be launched in 2028 in order to reach Apophis in time, and preliminary work is under way to guarantee the feasibility of the mission, ESA said in its press release.
JAXA is already actively involved in ESA’s first planetary defence mission, Hera, currently en route to the asteroid Didymos. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)