The European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing for the future of space exploration beyond the International Space Station (ISS) and has recently selected The Exploration Company and Thales Alenia to develop its cargo spacecraft.

Quick Summary:

The LEO Cargo Return Service contract was established to hopefully invest that cash in European industrial capability instead.

But the impending deorbit of the International Space Station and the rise of privately owned space stations means that Europe may be left without a meaningful way to barter, and instead would have to pay cash to access space instead.

However, NASA ended up paying hundreds of millions of dollars to both competitors for the development of their respective capsules — SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon and what is now Northrop’s Cygnus — so the agency will need to do more lobbying to ensure it gets the money it needs to fund these capsules through the rest of the decade.

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Article Details

Author / Journalist: Aria Alamalhodaei

Category: Technology

Markets: United StatesAustralia

Topics: Space The Exploration Company European Space Agency Thales Alenia Space

Source Website Secure: Yes (HTTPS)

News Sentiment: Neutral

Fact Checked: Legitimate

Article Type: News Report

Published On: 2024-05-23 @ 22:03:42 (3 weeks ago)

News Timezone: GMT -5:00

News Source URL: techcrunch.com

Language: English

Article Length: 966 words

Reading Time: 6 minutes read

Sentences: 40 lines

Sentence Length: 25 words per sentence (average)

Platforms: Desktop Web, Mobile Web, iOS App, Android App

Copyright Owner: © TechCrunch

News ID: 21070044

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