Success for Europe’s reusable spaceflight, despite losing comms

During the mission, the spacecraft powered all 25 payloads (300kg) on and off, maintained stable communications in orbit, performed attitude control manoeuvres, and oriented its heatshield correctly for re-entry, validating every major system before the final descent.

From an orbital altitude of 550km, the capsule re-entered successfully in a controlled manner, with communication established post re-entry; communications were, however, lost at 26km altitude, just before the transonic phase preceding the opening of the parachutes. The TEC team, along with an independent board, are still analysing the data available to best understand the outcomes thereafter.

Founded in 2021 by Hélène Huby, former VP Orion-ESM at Airbus, and an experienced global team, TEC develops, manufactures, and operates spacecrafts to serve the logistical needs of space stations and space exploration. Beyond Mission Possible, TEC is steadily building Europe’s next-generation space logistics capabilities. In 2024, the firm closed a €150 million Series B round to fund development of the Nyx family of reusable, in-orbit-refuellable spacecraft.

“Mission Possible makes us stronger. We all hoped for full success; partial success is often part of the road for those who take risks and push boundaries to change the world positively,” said Hélène Huby, Founder & CEO. “I take full responsibility and present my apologies to our customers for not achieving full success.”

TEC making history

With Mission Possible, TEC has made European space history. This flight sets the record as the first private European capsule to de-orbit and perform a controlled re-entry and is only the third guided re-entry vehicle in the history of European spaceflight.

In addition, before Mission Possible, TEC’s first re-entry demonstrator, named Bikini, was the first European private space capsule to be sent to space.

Mission Possible has also broken new ground in its development. It was conceived, developed, qualified, and launched within three years (July 2022 - June 2025). TEC worked with 45 suppliers across 11 European nations and delivered the project for €35 million – launch costs included, breaking cost, and speed records worldwide.

During this short period of time, the team designed and qualified an onboard computer, wrote guidance-navigation-control and flight software entirely in-house, verified avionics on a hardware-in-the-loop platform, bonded and qualified the thermal protection system, and obtained both a CNES re-entry license and an FAA payload recommendation letter.

The affordability and speed of Mission Possible came from conscious design trade-offs that carry higher risk: the parachute system was not drop-tested; critical subsystems ran single-string (one onboard computer, one IMU, one parachute); propulsion testing stopped at thruster-level hot-firing; and the flight computer was built in-house from commercial off-the-shelf components.

“We look forward to re-applying the core capabilities built along with what we are learning now on our upcoming flights,” adds Huby, “I also want to thank and congratulate The Exploration Company's team members who are demonstrating outstanding solidarity, resilience, and commitment to our success.”

Looking ahead, the team is shifting its momentum toward its next generation programmes, including bringing its full-size capsule, Nyx Earth, to flight in 2028.

Image courtesy of SpaceX