They Did It: Europe's First Reusable Rocket Hop
Plus: the week in space news, and hottest startup jobs you don't want to miss.
Welcome to the Aerospace Insider community 🚀
Good morning. In today’s issue, we’re diving into the latest and greatest from Europe’s booming space sector. Big things are happening!
Today’s summary:
🚀 Aerospace Weekly Roundup: New funding round, D-Orbit unveils new GEO spacecraft and the space industry just keeps growing.
💼 Top Space Startup Jobs: Don’t miss out on the latest job opportunities—your next big break might be here!
🔍 Deep Dive: A student-led team beats the industry with Europe’s first reusable rocket hop!
Aerospace Weekly Roundup
If you’re keeping tabs on Europe’s booming space sector, here’s what you need to know this week.
💰 OQ Technology Raises €30M in Funding
Luxembourg-based 5G IoT satellite operator OQ Technology has raised €30M in Series B to launch 20 more satellites by 2025, adding to their current fleet of 10. While they currently serve the oil and gas market, they’re also aiming to enable direct-to-cell messaging soon.
🛰️ D-Orbit unveils a new satellite platform
D-Orbit’s new GEA platform is specifically designed for geostationary missions. They are aiming big: this spacecraft will be able to rendezvous, dock and control other satellites and will enable for critical operations such as life extension, relocation, repair, disposal—and more. Watch it here.
🌍 The global space workforce just keeps growing
The global space sector is booming, with Europe’s workforce alone increasing with more than 5000 jobs from 2022 to 2023 according to the latest report by the Space Foundation. Over the past 5 years France's workforce rose by 28%, Germany's by 30%, and the UK led with a 56% increase.
🛰️ The space debris removal market expected to reach €600M in 2028
A recent Markets and Markets report values the space debris removal market at €100M, with projections showing an impressive annual growth rate of 41.7%. Key players shaping this expanding sector include Astroscale, ClearSpace, Surrey Satellite Technology, and Northrop Grumman. Will D-Orbit, with its GEA platform, join their ranks?
Startup Job Spotlight 🔍
Curated roles to accelerate your career in Europe’s thriving space startup sector. This week, the focus is on recently funded and rapidly growing space startups across Europe.
🚀 Internships
Avionics Development & Propulsion Engineer — GATE Space (Vienna 🇦🇹)
Aerothermal Engineer Intern — The Exploration Company (Bordeaux 🇫🇷)
GNC & Flight Dynamics Intern — RFA (Augsburg 🇩🇪)
💼 Startup Jobs (ranked by experience)
Junior Software Engineer — AIKO (Turin 🇮🇹)
AIT Engineer — OroraTech (Munich 🇩🇪)
Test & Prototype Engineer — ALL.SPACE (Reading 🇬🇧)
Project Manager, Astrodynamics & Optical System Engineers — Lumi Space (Remote 🌍)
Mission Concept Engineer — Open Cosmos (Harwell 🇬🇧)
CFD Engineer — Pangea Aerospace (Barcelona 🇪🇸)
Propulsion Development Engineer — GATE Space (Vienna 🇦🇹)
Senior Platform Engineer — Sateliot (Barcelona 🇪🇸)
Senior Ground Systems Engineer — D-Orbit (Lomazzo 🇮🇹)
Senior Propulsion Development Engineer — GATE Space (Vienna 🇦🇹)
Radio Frequency Spectrum Manager — Constellation Technologies (Toulouse 🇫🇷)
✨ The Exploration Company is hiring big time: propulsion, structural, thermal design and software engineers. See roles.
🎓 PhD Opportunities
Astrodynamics PhD (2 openings) — Imperial College London 🇬🇧
Europe’s Reusable Rocket Gap: How a Student Group Just Beat the Industry to a Key Milestone
A group of university students managed to do something that Europe’s major space players have yet to accomplish—a successful hop test of a reusable rocket.
The Gruyère Space Program is a student-led group of EPFL aiming to build the first student-built vertical landing rocket. And last week they made history, quite literally.
Their rocket, Colibri, performed a 105 metre hop, moving 30 metres laterally before returning in a controlled descent to the launchpad (a very small scale Falcon 9 first stage flight, basically). The entire flight lasted 60 seconds. And for European rocket technology this is a milestone worth noting.
Here’s the video of the flight for you to watch1
If you look at it, it may not seem a big deal. And “technologically” speaking it’s not. We all know that can be done: SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space have done it to different degrees. Yes, but no one in Europe has achieved this even though rocket reusability is now become a must in the industry (ahem… hello, Starship).
These students have beaten CNES in the race to build and fly a reusable rocket. CNES has flown a hopper but using a turbojet instead of a rocket engine—so it can’t be called a rocket. And they plan to fly their FROG-H rocket hopper in 2025…
But wait, now ESA has selected ArianeGroup and Isar Aerospace “stimulate the development of future reusable rocket first stages or boosters”. Well, it’s about time. SpaceX recovered Falcon 9 booster in 2016… Makes you wonder if Europe is really pursuing reusability. I’m preparing a deep dive on the history of reusable rockets (US vs Europe), let me know if you would like this.
The question remains: Why is Europe behind? We will dive deeper into this in the future issue but let’s summarise the main points now:
Lack of funding opportunities
This is no news to anybody. European companies don’t have access to the same funding (both public and private) opportunities as their US counterparts. And this trend does not seem to slow down.
Over-regulation (and risk aversion)
Europe is well known for it’s desire to regulate things. Regulation is not inherently bad, but when not done carefully it risks hindering innovation. And I think it’s this environment which makes European companies operate in a culture of greater risk aversion compared to the US.
Europe is complex: many countries with diverse interests and regulatory frameworks. This complexity often slows down innovation.
However, not all is lost yet. Companies like PLD Space, Isar Aerospace or RFA are working tirelessly to become the first European private company to reach space. And, eventually, to develop the first reusable orbital rocket in Europe (before 2030 anybody?). If at least one of these companies succeeds, then Europe can get back in the game globally.
But the reality is that to truly compete, we need to streamline regulation, increase investment in private space startups and encourage more risk-taking across all European industries, not only space.
If a student group can achieve this milestone, imagine what a company with the proper funding and support can do. This achievement shows again that Europe is capable of doing great things (and that there’s no shortage of talent, contrary to what some people think). We just need an ecosystem that fosters this type of innovation.
Congratulations again to all the Gruyère Space Program team. That was truly an amazing achievement. Let’s see if our private industry can now catch up.
Quick Reads
Airbus and Thales consider joining forces to become the absolute dominant player in Europe. Read more.
Starship was 1 second away from aborting the catch attempt. Elon Musk inadvertently shares SpaceX meeting clip. Hear it now: second 25 into the clip.
Boeing wants to sell it’s space division, the WSJ reports.
Chile and Cyprus sign the Artemis Accords. We now have 46 countries supporting the agreement, which outlines best practices for sustainable space exploration.
Chinese company Deep Blue Aerospace unveils new suborbital human-rated capsule. Does the design ring a bell? Let’s put your chinese into practice here.
ESA to change strategy to increase European space industry competitiveness. If you’re up for it, here’s the media briefing. This comes at a critical time for Europe, especially after seeing the progress both the US and China are doing.
Thanks for reading Aerospace Insider.
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To your success,
Jaime
Credit: Gruyere Space Program.