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Title: Privately-Funded EU Company Raises $160M for SpaceX Dragon-Like
Reusable Space Capsule

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/11/17/2...

Nyx is a new reusable space capsule that "safely and affordably carries cargo
to and from space stations," according to the web page of its European-based
manufacturer, The Exploration Company, "launching from any heavy launcher
worldwide." And the company "just closed a large funding round to further its
mission of building Europe's first reusable space capsule," reports
TechCrunch - pointing out that right now, "Only two companies currently
provide cargo delivery to and from the International Space Station, and both
are based in the United States." The $160 million Series B round will fund
the continued development of the Nyx spacecraft, which will be capable of
carrying 3,000 kilograms of cargo to and from Earth. The company, which was
founded three years ago by aerospace engineers Hel�ne Huby, Sebastien
Reichstat, and Pierre Vine, is aiming to conduct Nyx's maiden flight to and
from the International Space Station in 2028. "We are the first company in
the world where this is for the first time mainly funded by private
investors," Huby said in a recent interview. This is in contrast to SpaceX's
Dragon capsule, which she said was "mainly funded by NASA." The new funding,
which was led by Balderton Capital and Plural, brings the startup's total
funding to date to over $208 million. The Series B also included
participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, NGP Capital, and two sovereign
European funds, French Tech Souverainete and DeepTech & Climate Fonds.
"We've been able to deliver on promises in the past three years," Huby said.
"We've been able to meet our cash target ever quarter ... The investors, they
could see that we basically can deliver on time, on cost, on quality." The
startup has made traction with the European Space Agency, which has
recognized the need to foster native space launch and transportation
capabilities... It's a promising start, but equally promising is the traction
The Exploration Company is seeing on the commercial side. Around 90% of the
startup's $770 million contract backlog has come from private station
developers Vast, Axiom Space, and Starlab, according to recent reporting...
The second sub-scale demonstrator mission, called Mission Possible, is
scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 next year. TechCrunch quotes Huby as
saying "I highly respect what SpaceX has been able to achieve.We are trying
to learn as much as possible from that, we are inspired by what they have
achieved." In a CNBC interview, Huby says "It's a big market, and it's
growing about a bit more than 10% per year because more nations want to fly
their astronauts and more nations want to go to the moon. So there is an
increased demand for sending people to stations, sending cargo to stations."
"Join us on our mission to democratize access to space," says a home-page
link to the company's recruiting page - with a link further down titled "Book
a mission."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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