The Exploration Company (TEC) is a Franco-German spacecraft manufacturer founded in 2021 with the mission to democratize space exploration. They are developing, manufacturing, and operating the Nyx space capsule, a modular and reusable orbital vehicle designed for cargo transport to destinations like the ISS and future commercial space stations, with future capabilities for human transport and lunar missions. TEC aims to provide affordable and sustainable space transportation services and has secured contracts with major players like ESA and NASA. Key words: Space capsule, reusable spacecraft, cargo transport, space logistics, Nyx, ESA, NASA.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
ESA awarded Phase 1 contracts under the LEO Cargo Return Services initiative to The Exploration Company and Thales Alenia Space in May 2024.
Redwire entered into an eight-figure agreement with The Exploration Company during the fourth quarter of 2025 to provide two International Berthing and Docking Mechanisms to support autonomous rendezvous and docking for TEC’s Nyx spacecraft.
Redwire signed an eight-figure agreement to supply international berthing and docking mechanisms for The Exploration Company’s Nyx spacecraft.
SAGA Space Architects is heading a consortium that includes The Exploration Company and Space Applications Services for the Lunar Remote Camp study.
Agile Space Industries won a contract to provide propulsion systems for The Exploration Company’s Nyx spacecraft.
Fusion negotiations with the Franco-German company The Exploration Company reportedly failed after Orbex lost financial backing from the British National Wealth Fund.
The Exploration Company (TEC) began negotiating the acquisition of Orbex in December and those talks were frozen this week.
The Exploration Company planned in December 2025 to market the Storm engine to companies that will be building heavy launchers in Europe.
Orbex’s 11 February statement made no reference to The Exploration Company or to why the acquisition had fallen through.
The Exploration Company is exploring locating some operations at RAF Spadeadam in Cumbria.
The French space agency CNES provided early co-financing to The Exploration Company to begin developing the Storm high-thrust rocket engine.
The Exploration Company’s Storm engine thrust specification of 250 tonnes is comparable to a SpaceX Raptor engine.
The Exploration Company’s high-thrust rocket engine, initially called Typhoon and subsequently renamed Storm, is designed to produce 250 tonnes of thrust.
The Exploration Company signed a letter of intent to purchase Orbex on 21 January.
A spokesperson for The Exploration Company linked the failure of its planned acquisition of Orbex to the UK government’s decision not to approve the transaction.
The Exploration Company is analyzing correlations between models and the Nyx splashdown test results to inform design improvements and to incorporate findings into future recovery acceptance criteria as part of Nyx certification preparations.
The Exploration Company conducted splashdown tests of its reusable capsule Nyx with CNR-INM between January 13 and January 28, 2026 using a 135-kilogram, one-quarter-scale fiberglass mockup.
The Exploration Company completed a controlled splashdown test campaign of a subscale Nyx prototype on 5 February at the National Research Council’s Institute of Marine Engineering (CNR-INM) in Rome.
The Exploration Company is developing a reusable space capsule called Nyx that will initially be used to ferry cargo to and from low Earth orbit destinations.
The Exploration Company is exploring a crewed variant of Nyx and projects it could be operational as early as 2035 contingent on a political decision.