The Exploration Company

Greetings from our US team in Houston! We opened our office in Houston in 2024, and have expanded from just 1 person in May to 12 in the last months with representation across the country. We are proud to have some impressive individuals join us on our mission, pushing boundaries and making The Exploration Company a global endeavour. We look forward to this team continuing to grow and further international collaborations.

In our new Mission Possible Customer Spotlight Series, we're featuring Celestis Memorial Spaceflights. With over 30 years of experience, Celestis offers a unique service: sending the ashes or DNA of loved ones into space, creating a special way to honour their lives. As part of our 2025 Mission Possible Flight, Celestis Memorial Spaceflights will take the ashes of over 100 loved ones on an orbital journey, creating a lasting tribute among the stars. We thank Celestis and the families of those flying with us for their trust - welcome aboard!

To close out the year, we successfully concluded the test campaign of the third iteration of the Thrust Chamber Assembly (TCA) of our cryogenic "Huracan" engine at German Aerospace Center (DLR)  test bench P8 in Lampoldshausen, Germany. This campaign brought significant advancements to Huracan’s development. With the help of the team of DLR-Institut für Raumfahrtantriebe, we accumulated over 600 seconds of hot-fire testing, with a single test lasting more than 2 minutes. The addition of a nozzle extension skirt marks a critical step toward developing Huracan for vacuum operation. We also validated our new engine controller, which enabled closed-loop control of the valves for precise and reliable operation.   To test the thermo-mechanical cycling behaviour of the assembly, we completed 19 hot-fire cycles of 10 seconds each in just 19 minutes. As part of this campaign, we also tested both the previous and new thrust chambers to further investigate and refine the cooling capabilities of our regenerative design. In total, the hardware has endured 35 cycles this year, 5x the requirement for a lunar mission. These tests are paving the way for reusability, a cornerstone of our future development.   These milestones reaffirm our commitment to pushing boundaries and refining the performance and durability of our methalox engine technology. The journey continues!   Thanks Wolfgang Armbruster, Robson Hahn, Justin Hardi, Michael Börner, Alexander Bee, Jan Martin, Gerd Bruemmer and Fritz Wildner at DLR-Institut für Raumfahrtantriebe. Alex Plebuch, Matthias Günther and Dr. Denis Kiefel at deltaVision - fluid control & aerospace. Johnathon Tate and Stuart Jolly at HycAero. Sincere gratitude to Stefano Matteini, Benoît Pouffary, MANSOURI Jamila, Anze Singer, Yohann Torres, Jessica Grenouilleau and European Space Agency - ESA.  Congratulations to our team Sonia Magniant, Pierre Vinet, Tomás Cruz, Matteo Crachi, Julian Matt, Alicia Dufresne, Louis Collignon, Maximilian Strixner, Dimitrios Vogiatzief, Artjom L., Camille Yver, Pierre Morin and Guillaume Beau.

In our 'Mission Possible Customer Spotlight Series,' today we feature BioOrbit, which is sending an innovative payload to orbit for protein drug crystallization in microgravity. This pioneering experiment aims to unlock the potential of space-based biotech manufacturing, advancing the development of life-saving injectable pharmaceuticals. The insights gained could revolutionize healthcare both on Earth and in space. Welcome aboard, BioOrbit!"

We are honored to have been selected as one of Sifted's 10 Fastest growing Deep-Tech startups in Europe, and look forward to working hard to continue on this trajectory!

Our team recently completed an important test to simulate the spin and rotation of the Mission Possible capsule in space following its release from the launcher. This test aimed to confirm that our system responds correctly to the spin and prepare the capsule for correct reentry. By utilizing Mechanical Ground Support Equipment, we replicated the capsule’s motion across all three axes and validated that the appropriate thrusters activate based on the GNC inputs received. This a successful step in preparing for the reentry of Mission Possible, which is scheduled to fly next year.

Introducing our Mission Possible Customer Spotlight Series in which we will feature some of the customer payloads our Mission Possible vehicle will be carrying on our 2025 mission for orbit, return and retrieval. Look out for these highlights to get a glimpse of high-impact opportunities Low Earth Orbit offers across industries.    Our first customer featured is Genesis Sustainable Future. Genesis SFL is sending MayaSat-1, a passive payload of hundreds of biological samples, all secured within an incubator cube, to advance research on the effects of space travel on biological systems and plants. This research will not only be of interest to the space community but also to efforts around sustainability and agriculture innovation here on Earth. Welcome aboard Genesis SFL!

Introducing our Mission Possible Customer Spotlight Series in which we will feature some of the customer payloads our Mission Possible vehicle will be carrying on our 2025 mission for orbit, return and retrieval. Look out for these highlights to get a glimpse of high-impact opportunities Low Earth Orbit offers across industries.    Our first customer featured is Genesis Sustainable Future. Genesis SFL is sending MayaSat-1, a passive payload of hundreds of biological samples, all secured within an incubator cube, to advance research on the effects of space travel on biological systems and plants. This research will not only be of interest to the space community but also to efforts around sustainability and agriculture innovation here on Earth. Welcome aboard Genesis SFL!

We have successfully tested our navigation algorithms and sensors for our Mission Possible Capsule. Our team conducted a car test to examine how the navigation behaves in a real-world scenario. The Inertial Measurement Unit, the GNSS receiver, and the Onboard Computer were mounted in the trunk of a car and taken for a spin around Munich. Test analyses show an accurate, smooth, and robust navigation solution. The next real-world scenario will involve the actual flight and reentry, where the navigation system will be subjected to reentry dynamics.

The Exploration Company is a collaborative European endeavour at its core, with the strong belief that we must collaborate across borders - and even globally - from the start to protect peace and democracy. Hear more from our CEO in this interview: