Franco-German space startup wins funding boost for cargo capsule
PARIS, Nov 18 (Reuters) -Franco-German space startup The Exploration Co said on Monday it had raised $160 million in new funds to help it develop a reusable cargo capsule known as Nyx.
The company said the Series B funding, led by Balderton Capital and early-stage investment fund Plural, was the largest of its type for space in Europe.
It comes six months after the European Space Agency awarded preliminary contracts to develop cargo return services to The Exploration Co and the larger and more established Franco-Italian space company Thales Alenia Space TCFP.PALDOF.MI.
The vehicles will deliver supplies to the International Space Station by 2030 and could be used for any future space stations, the agency said in May.
Although initially conceived as cargo vehicles, they could ultimately be modified to send crew into space.
ESA's 22 nations agreed in November last year to invite private funding for a vehicle to ferry cargo to and from space.
The agency's director general, Josef Aschbacher, has warned Europe against falling behind on space as it did on IT and has described the future plane as a "first step" towards eventually developing a standalone European human spaceflight programme.
In July, The Exploration Co placed a small test capsule called Nyx Bikini on the inaugural test mission of Europe's new Ariane 6 launcher. But the test craft became stranded in orbit when Ariane's third stage failed to deploy correctly.
The Exploration Co said it was on track to launch its next mission, a mid-size capsule called "Mission Possible," in 2025.
ESA said last week it was postponing the second flight of Ariane 6, and its first formal commercial mission, until February 2025 from December this year.
Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Stephen Coates
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