ESA awards The Exploration Company €760 million cargo capsule contract under ALADDIN programme
The European Space Agency has signed a €760 million contract with The Exploration Company to build Europe's first commercial cargo capsule for the ISS, days after the firm closed a €387 million funding round.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded The Exploration Company (TEC), a French-German space firm, a €760 million service contract to build and operate Europe's first commercial cargo capsule flying to the International Space Station (ISS). The agreement was signed at the International Space Summit in Paris.
Of the total, €310 million covers an initial demonstration mission, while up to €450 million is allocated for two further optional service missions still to be confirmed. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said the deal shows how the agency can act as an "anchor customer," strengthening Europe's commercial space sector.
The contract arrives just days after TEC closed a €387 million ($450 million) Series C funding round, which the company said would complete development of its reusable Nyx capsule and speed up work on Storm, a high-thrust rocket engine.
The ALADDIN programme
The deal falls under Phase 2 of ESA's ALADDIN programme, successor to the agency's Low Earth Orbit Cargo Return Service (LCRS), a concept endorsed by member states in 2022. Two earlier projects had each received €25 million to develop the idea further. Following approval at ESA's Ministerial Council in November 2025 and a tender launched in March 2026, the programme advanced to full system development and an in-orbit demonstration. ESA describes this as the first and largest capsule transportation contract awarded to a European company through open competition.
About the company
Founded in 2021 by Hélène Huby and a team of aerospace veterans, TEC is developing the Nyx capsule, designed to dock autonomously with a space station and return up to 3,000 kilograms of cargo to Earth, with each capsule rated for up to 10 missions. Development takes place across Munich, Bordeaux and Turin, with the company also expanding into the US and UAE.
Under the agreement, TEC has secured 40% of the financing for the initial demonstration mission from private investors, with ESA covering the remaining 60%. TEC has also signed a separate agreement with Arianespace to launch the first Nyx capsule on an Ariane 6 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. The company now has 10 booked missions in total, worth roughly $2 billion.
