Europe’s commercial launch sector picking up the pace
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The European space sector is enjoying a run of advances in September, highlighted by Isar Aerospace reaching orbit on its second Spectrum flight, the United Kingdom publishing a new space strategy, and PLD Space unveiling a larger reusable launcher. The Exploration Company also closed a record funding round and won an ESA cargo contract, and Ariane 6, Firefly, and Vast each picked up new European business.
Isar Aerospace reaches orbit from Andøya
Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket lifted off from Andøya Spaceport in Norway on Sept. 5 on its second flight and delivered a handful of commercial and educational CubeSats to orbit.
The mission was the first successful orbital launch by a private European commercial company from continental Europe. It was also a propulsion first: Spectrum became the first rocket anywhere to reach orbit on a propane and liquid oxygen mix.
Orbit Achieved. Payload Deployed.
Mission 'Onward and Upward' delivered our first customer satellites to orbit, achieving major milestones:
MaxQ
— Isar Aerospace (@isaraerospace) September 6, 2026
The flight cleared a mandatory milestone in the European Space Agency’s European Launcher Challenge, which requires participants to reach orbit by 2027.
UK space strategy funds ports and European rockets
The UK government this week published a new Space Strategy with headline funding of £7.8 billion (about $10.6 billion) through 2030.
The package emphasizes spaceport infrastructure rather than a sovereign UK rocket. It includes £148 million (roughly $200 million) for European rocket programs through ESA and looks to German companies Rocket Factory Augsburg and HyImpulse to provide the UK with “assured access to space.”
That marks a shift from last year’s talk of British rockets carrying British satellites from British soil. Since then, UK launch hopeful Orbex collapsed, leaving four companies in the Launcher Challenge. Scotland’s Skyrora continues development but is not in the challenge, and its first orbital attempt remains some way off. For now, Britain’s path to orbit runs through Germany.
SaxaVord expands as RFA One awaits new launch date
SaxaVord Spaceport, on Unst in the Shetland Islands, will receive two additional launch pads and a second hangar under a £30 million investment from the strategy, matched by the same amount from private investors.
BREAKING: @SaxaVord_Space has announced a £60,000,000 investment plan – 50% of which is from the UK Government as part of the updated space strategy program!
This will support the completion of "key infrastructure", such as two more launch pads and a second integration hangar.… pic.twitter.com/3r6NbcUhWV
— Ryan Caton (@dpoddolphinpro) September 7, 2026
The site is intended to host Rocket Factory Augsburg’s RFA ONE on the UK’s first vertical orbital launch. Timing is less certain after a successful week of pad testing in July was followed by a vehicle issue serious enough for RFA to destack the rocket. No launch date has been set.
PLD Space announces reusable Miura 9
Spanish launch provider PLD Space announced Miura 9, another vehicle in development under the European Launcher Challenge. The company said the rocket will introduce reusable technology in Europe to support a higher launch cadence and lower operating costs.
Hoy anunciamos #MIURA9 , la evolución de #MIURA5 (block 1.2) , un lanzador desarrollado en el marco del contrato #ELC @ESA , capaz de lanzar 1500kg a 500km SSO, lanzado desde Guayana Francesa @EuropeSpacePort https://t.co/Jcuvgk7LR8 pic.twitter.com/0lcK9VGKOV
— PLD Space (@PLD_Space) September 10, 2026
Miura 9 is an evolution of Miura 5 in its Block 1.2 configuration, first unveiled in October 2024. It is designed to lift 1,500 kilograms to Sun-synchronous orbit from the spaceport in French Guiana.
The first stage will fly nine TEPREL engines. The vehicle will stand 42 meters tall and measure three meters in diameter, making it larger than other small-lift challengers such as RFA One, Spectrum, and PLD’s own Miura 5. The partially reusable design includes a recoverable first stage with grid fins and landing legs for a propulsive landing.
PLD Space has long planned reusability. Experience from Miura 9 is expected to feed into the larger Miura Next family, which ranges from a single-stick variant to a super-heavy configuration with four reusable boosters around a reusable center core. Miura Next is also planned to carry PLD’s Lince crew and cargo capsule.
The Exploration Company raises $450 million and wins ALADDIN
The Exploration Company closed a $450 million Series C round, reported as the largest Series C ever raised by a European space company.
The funding is intended to take Nyx, the company’s reusable cargo capsule, to a first demonstration flight in 2028 and to develop Storm, a reusable full-flow staged combustion engine burning biomethane and liquid oxygen. Storm is aimed at a future European super-heavy launcher.
The company briefly showed images of a Yrene vehicle with nine Storm engines on its website before removing them.
The Exploration Company said it now holds more than $2 billion in contracts and commitments. The firm was founded five years ago.
One day after the raise, ESA awarded the company a €760 million contract (about $884 million) under ALADDIN, Autonomous LEO Accelerated Demo Docking to ISS Node, beating Thales Alenia. The program is ESA’s effort to give Europe its own cargo-return capability to the International Space Station.
Of that total, €310 million covers a demonstration mission launching on Ariane 6, with Nyx targeting an ISS docking attempt as early as 2029, close to the station’s planned retirement. The remaining €450 million optionally funds two further cargo missions to the ISS or a successor commercial station.
Amazon and ICEYE add business for Ariane 6
Ariane 6 recently flew its first mission to geostationary transfer orbit, delivering the MTG-I2 weather satellite and expanding the rocket’s record beyond the lower orbits flown so far.
At a space industry gathering in Paris this week, Amazon Leo, the company’s satellite internet constellation formerly known as Kuiper, ordered six more Ariane 64 launches on top of its existing contract. Arianespace has already flown two Amazon Leo missions on Ariane 6, most recently deploying 32 satellites on the four-booster Ariane 64.
The additional order is not a surprise. Amazon has booked several vehicles for Leo, but Atlas V’s last reserved Leo mission flew in July; Vulcan is not yet ready to take over after a mixed early record, and New Glenn has been unavailable.
That leaves Falcon 9 and Ariane 6. Amazon has been reluctant to buy launches from its largest competitor, leaving Ariane as the remaining option.
.@AmazonLeo has ordered six more Ariane 6 launches, bringing the total ordered to 24.
With the retirement of Atlas V, SRB problems on Vulcan, and lack-of-pad problems with New Glenn, Ariane 6 is becoming a reliable partner for launching these internet satellites.
@ESA pic.twitter.com/qWpkVQ9xk2
— Ryan Caton (@dpoddolphinpro) September 9, 2026
Arianespace also signed a memorandum of understanding with Finland’s ICEYE to evaluate Ariane 6 for future radar-imaging satellite launches.
The agreement is early-stage and not a firm contract, but it is notable because ICEYE has built its constellation almost entirely on SpaceX Falcon 9. The talks are another step toward flying European satellites on European rockets for missions of interest to European governments and institutions.
Firefly books two Alpha launches from Sweden
Firefly Aerospace and SSC Space signed a contract for two Alpha launches from Esrange Space Center in Sweden.
From Sweden to orbit.
SSC Space signed on for two Alpha launches from Esrange Space Center in Sweden, targeted to launch in 2028.
These missions, serving Swedish national defense and commercial customers, are part of a long-term, multi-launch partnership with @SSCspace,…
— Firefly Aerospace (@FireflySpace) September 9, 2026
The first, targeted for 2028, would be mainland Sweden’s first orbital launch and would serve Swedish national-security customers and commercial rideshare payloads.
Construction at Esrange’s new Launch Complex 3C began in mid-2024. The site already has a control center and payload processing buildings, though no new images have been released since June.
Greece’s first astronaut named to Vast ISS mission
Greece is set to fly its first astronaut. Dr. Adrianos Golemis, pending final crew approval, has been named mission specialist on Vast’s PAM-1 flight, the sixth private astronaut mission to the ISS.
Golemis has been an ESA flight surgeon since 2018 and previously ran European physiology and psychology experiments in Antarctica. He will fly with French astronaut Thomas Pesquet as commander on his third flight and Czech astronaut Aleš Svoboda as pilot on his first mission.
Training begins this month, with the mission targeted for 2027 on a SpaceX Dragon. NASA has not announced a fourth crew member.
(Lead Image via PLD).
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