ESA awarded ArianeGroup €230 million across two contracts in November 2024 for additional Themis T1E testing.
Themis will perform initial low-altitude hop tests at Esrange as part of the European Commission’s SALTO programme.
The European Space Agency’s Themis reusable rocket demonstrator will be the first vehicle to utilize Esrange’s new Orbital Launch Control Center for suborbital flights.
The research used multi-spacecraft observations, including data from NASA’s Van Allen Probes and the THEMIS mission, to measure particle distributions, electric fields, and wave activity.
ESA has not reported progress towards the initial low-altitude flight of Themis since the transfer to the launch pad.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is waiting for spring to launch a test of its reusable rocket demonstrator Themis in Sweden.
ESA aims to conduct the first test of Themis in the first quarter of 2026.
In June 2025, ArianeGroup transported the first Themis demonstrator from its facilities in Les Mureaux to the Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden.
ESA began work on the Themis project in 2019 to develop reusable rocket technology for future European launch systems.
On January 8, Toni Tolker-Nielsen, acting director of ESA's Space Transportation program, stated that weather has been a determining factor for the initial flight test of Themis.
ESA began work on the Themis project in 2019 to mature reusable rocket technology for future European launch systems.
In September 2025, ArianeGroup announced that the 28-metre-tall Themis demonstrator was transferred to the launch pad for a combined test campaign.
ESA has not provided further updates on the progress toward the first flight of Themis since the transfer to the launch pad.
Director General Josef Aschbacher revealed that ESA is targeting the first quarter of 2026 for the first hop test of Themis.
In June 2025, the first Themis demonstrator was transported by ArianeGroup from its facility in Les Mureaux to the Esrange Space Centre in northern Sweden.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is waiting for spring to launch the initial hop test of its Themis reusable rocket booster demonstrator.
Testing of a more powerful three-engine variant of Themis, known as T3, is expected to begin at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana after testing in Kiruna is complete.
The additional funding will support an evolution of the Prometheus rocket engine that powers Themis and an upgraded variant called T1E for medium-altitude hop tests.
The acting Director of ESA’s Space Transportation programme, Toni Tolker-Nielsen, stated that the weather is currently preventing the initial test flight of Themis.
The LRBs would have been derived from the Themis reusable booster demonstrator, which ArianeGroup is developing under an ESA contract.