Rocket Factory Augsburg AG (RFA) officially signs the contract with ESA under the Boost! — ESA’s Commercial Space Transportation Services and Support program. Both parties are thus continuing the commercialization of European space transportation and challenging established processes.
The contract was implemented in a record eight weeks from RFP receipt to contract signing. The signing follows the German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) microlauncher competition, which RFA won in April 2022. Within just eight weeks of ESA’s request for proposal, RFA was able to submit a comprehensive proposal, provide clarifications, finalize the contract and already hold a kick-off meeting. The signing ceremony marked the official start of the collaboration.
“It is very exciting to witness the commercialization of European space transportation and to drive it forward together with ESA,” said Jörn Spurmann, Chief Commercial Officer at RFA. “We are proud to have the support of the German government and ESA. The speed with which we successfully moved through the process demonstrates the success of the Commercialization Directorate and the Boost! program at ESA.”
As part of the DLR microlauncher competition, DLR announced RFA as the winner of the 2022 round in April. The prize is worth 11 million euros, which will now be implemented via Boost!. Within this framework, the German government and ESA will be an anchor customer on RFA ONE. DLR will place payload(s) of up to 150 kilograms on each of the first two launches, for which institutions and companies from Europe can apply via the currently running announcement of opportunity. “Europe has the advanced technologies and entrepreneurial spirit to transform the market for small satellite launch services,” ESA Director of Space Transportation Daniel Neuenschwander noted. “Now is the time to move quickly and demonstrate progress.”