Some European Launcher Challenge funding remains in limbo

WASHINGTON — Nearly 140 million euros ($162 million) that European Space Agency member states allocated to a program to support launch vehicle development remains in limbo and could be lost.

At a March 19 briefing after an ESA Council meeting, agency officials said they were still working with member states to redirect funding for the European Launcher Challenge that had either been allocated to a now-defunct company or was not allocated in the first place.

Member states subscribed more than 900 million euros to the European Launcher Challenge at ESA’s ministerial conference in November. The funding would go to five companies previously selected by the agency: Isar Aerospace, MaiaSpace, Orbex, PLD Space and Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA). The funding would be used by ESA to buy launch services from the companies, known as Component A, or support development of upgraded vehicles, known as Component B.

At the ministerial, however, several member states made contributions without specifying how they would be spent. A total of 117.8 million euros was unallocated, including 112.3 million euros from the United Kingdom.

“The U.K. has started to redistribute this amount,” Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA’s director of space transportation, said at the briefing. He said it reassigned 8.4 million euros to RFA’s Component B. RFA is a German company planning to launch from SaxaVord Spaceport in the United Kingdom.

He said Norway, which had 4.8 million euros unallocated, reassigned that funding to Isar Aerospace’s Component B. Isar is also a German company that plans to launch from Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway.

That leaves 104.6 million euros unallocated, almost all from the United Kingdom. Tolker-Nielsen said he spoke to the U.K. delegation just before the briefing.

“They certainly still have ambitions of access to space, so they are reflecting,” he said.

Another issue is the 34.9 million euros that member states subscribed to U.K.-based Orbex. That company filed for administration, a form of bankruptcy, in February and is no longer participating in the program.

“They have withdrawn from the European Launcher Challenge,” ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said at the briefing.

The United Kingdom provided the majority of Orbex’s funding, contributing 21.7 million euros, with Denmark — where Orbex also had facilities — providing 8 million euros. The remainder came from Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic.

Tolker-Nielsen said it would be up to those countries to decide how to reallocate those funds.

“They can allocate them to other elements of the launcher challenge or they can get them back,” he said. “They have to take the decision.”

The same is true for unallocated funds, he added. “They can allocate to other lines, other elements, or take the money back.”

ESA officials did not give a deadline for those reallocations. However, the agency is moving ahead with the funding provided for the other four companies. Aschbacher said the agency published invitations to tender last month for the four companies to respond to by the end of March.

Tolker-Nielsen said the content of the invitations to tender was tailored to each of the four companies, depending on how much money was allocated to the two components of the program.