MaiaSpace's ESA launcher contract is delayed
Published
ESA has said that its contract with MaiaSpace is close to signing, but three weeks later the agency has not announced it. According to European Spaceflight, ESA's Director of Space Transportation, Géraldine Naja, made the comments at a media briefing on 22 October.
The cause is the funding choice. MaiaSpace was the only one of the four European Launcher Challenge companies to take support through launch-service contracts, under Component A, rather than technical development under Component B. MaiaSpace secured €183.4 million, all of it under Component A. ESA signed contracts worth a combined €543.6 million with Isar Aerospace, RFA and PLD Space on 27 August.
Naja said the talks had become "a little bit more sophisticated" but that signing was a "question of days". The source notes that the contract award is still open. The source does not say when it will be signed.
Why does it matter? The European Launcher Challenge is meant to back several new rockets. A delay leaves one of the four without a signed contract.
Easy question: should ESA pay for launchers through launch contracts or through development money?
Sources: European Spaceflight