\tEnabling & Support<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t27\/08\/2025
\n\t\t\t\t284 views
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The Flight Ticket Initiative is a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission for European companies and institutions to test and prove new products and applications in space. It encourages the use of new European launchers.<\/p>\n
Testing prototypes in space provides valuable insight for research projects and unlocks the market potential of commercial applications. These types of missions are also called in-orbit demonstration or validation, abbreviated to IOD\/IOV, as they are meant to demonstrate or validate hardware, services and satellite payloads in space.<\/p>\n
\tFlying with Avio<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVega-C launches Sentinel-1C<\/a><\/p>\n Signatures between ESA and Avio<\/a> have secured three missions to fly as\u00a0auxiliary passengers on the Vega-C rocket from the European Spaceport in French Guiana.<\/p>\n Spanish company Persei will get to operate its E.<\/a>T. Pack<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>mission to demonstrate a solution to deorbit satellites using a kilometre-long aluminium tape that will be extended from the satellite. The tape, also called a tether, will generate an electric current as it passes through the plasma and geomagnetic field that surrounds our planet. This will create a force known as Lorentz drag which will slow down and deorbit a satellite. This fuel-free system offers a promising solution to reduce space debris, while keeping the satellite stable and avoiding collisions during deorbiting.<\/p>\n German Aerospace Center, DLR, will fly its Pluto cubesat<\/a> to demonstrate a high-performance-yet-compact avionic system. Developed at DLR\u2019s Institute of Space Systems in Bremen, Germany, Pluto+ will also test a flexible solar array capable of delivering 100 Watts of power. \u00a0With this mission, DLR aims to show that advanced components typically used on larger satellites can also thrive on smaller satellites.\u00a0<\/p>\n French company Grasp is developing an Earth observation constellation. Under the contract signed, their second satellite in the constellation, GapMap-1,<\/a> will launch on Vega-C. It will carry a new type of instrument, a short-wave infrared spectrometer, designed to detect greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This satellite follows an earlier demonstrator already in orbit. The constellation takes detailed measurements by scanning the atmosphere with 60 measurements on each pass overhead, providing more accurate data on air pollution and climate change.<\/p>\n \tFlying with Isar Aerospace<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tSpectrum takes flight<\/a><\/p>\n Signatures between ESA and Isar Aerospace<\/a> have secured two missions on the Spectrum launch vehicle from the And\u00f8ya Spaceport in Norway.<\/p>\n