European Space Sector

The most iconic part of the European space sector is the European Space Agency (ESA) – world’s second largest space agency, best known for its landing on comet 67P (aka Churyumov–Gerasimenko) with the Philae lander. Ariane rocket is another iconic part, however there are hundreds of other companies, from huge international giants to small, disruptive startups born in Europe, creating a vast, independent ecosystem harvesting the benefits of space exploration. In this section we will take a closer look into what Europe does in space, who are the players worth looking at and how to build your career in the European space sector.

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Giants

Largest companies, multi-national, offering a wide range of products and services, often with a roots in defense industry

Airbus Defence and Space
Safran
Thales Alenia Space
AVIO
OHB
QinetiQ

Specialists

From large to small, companies focused on a specific parts of the space industry

SES
Eutelsat
Arianespace
Reaction Engines Ltd.
RUAG Space
Jena-Optronik

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Space 4.0

New companies, either startups or formerly starups, striving for further commercialization of space

PLD Space
Active Space Technologies
Space Structures GmbH
ARQUIMEA
Cevotec
Creotech Instruments

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Organizations

New companies, either startups or formerly starups, striving for further commercialization of space

ESA – European Space Agency
CNES – French space agency
DLR – German space agency
ASI – Italian space agency
ESO – European Southern Observatory
Eumetsat – European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites

European Reusable Launch Vehicles: CNES

10 June 2020

French Space Agency took a familiar path of the Vertical Take-off, Vertical Landing, leading the way towards ArianeNEXT, successor for the Ariane 6 marking the next level in price reduction.

European Reusable Launch Vehicles: DLR

28 January 2019

German Space Agency proposed a path towards European Reusable Launch Vehicle – SpaceLiner. From small ReFEx, through Callisto, RLV-Demo and Semi RLV it will increasingly develop expertise in hypersonics and rapid re-usability towards making launchers operate almost like regular jetliners.

The Model T of Space, revolution among giants

20 May 2018

Airbus begun first ever serial production of a full scale satellites, which is the first step for the revolution in space economy, the revolution of cutting costs of the most expensive part in running the space company – the satellite constellations.

Avio releases new details on future Vega rockets

12 September 2017

During the International Paris Air Show Le Bourget 2017 an Italian rocket manufacturer Avio S.p.A. released additional details of its upcoming additions to the Vega rocket family. Vega L The biggest news of the show was the announcement of the Vega L - a...

ESA Moon Village – what it really is?

11 May 2017

European Space Agency’s Moon Village is seen by many only as a lunar habitat, however reality is much more complex and interesting. It will become a large international collaboration between institutional and commercial partners aimed at exploring the moon and utilising its resources in a long term, sustainable way.