Credit: CNES / Oeil du Chat / European Spaceflight
The European Commission has commissioned three parallel studies to examine the potential of a mobile responsive launch system capable of rapidly deploying satellites into orbit from non-permanent (mobile) ground platforms.
Initially published in July 2025, the call for the Mobile Responsive Launch System pilot project noted that, amid a growing range of human-made and natural threats in orbit, spacefaring actors require not only a sovereign launch capability but also “systems capable of placing satellites into orbit quickly to meet urgent demands.”
In a 29 January post on the EU Defence and Space X account, the European Commission announced that it had selected three consortia to conduct parallel studies for the Mobile Responsive Launch System pilot project.
While the 29 January post did not identify the three consortia selected, an Official Contract Award Notice published on 21 January revealed that one study would be led by the French subsidiary of UK-headquartered consultancy PwC, another by Spanish space technology company GMV’s Aerospace and Defence division, and the third by French launch startup Sirius Space Services. Under the evaluation framework outlined in the notice, proposal quality accounted for 70% of the score, with cost accounting for the remaining 30%.
The maximum award per study was €650,000, for a total budget of €1.95 million. According to the 21 January notice, the eventual combined award fell just short of this figure, totaling €1,894,661. Under the terms of the contracts, the three studies will be completed over a ten-month period.
The PwC-led consortium includes HyPrSpace, Andøya Spaceport, Argotec, Atlantic Spaceport Consortium, IDS Corporation, and Arctic Space. Sirius Space Services has partnered with US-based consulting and venture-investment firm Starburst for its study. Finally, the GMV-led consortium includes Novaspace, the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), and T4i Technology for Propulsion and Innovation.
Update: This article was updated on 30 January to include the composition of the Sirius Space Services and GMV consortiums.
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