{"id":382429,"date":"2026-01-21T15:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T15:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/382429\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T15:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T15:39:09","slug":"the-exploration-company-in-talks-to-buy-uk-rocket-builder-orbex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/382429\/","title":{"rendered":"The Exploration Company in Talks to Buy UK Rocket Builder Orbex"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-Exploration-Company-in-Talks-to-Buy-UK-Rocket-Builder-Orbex.webp.webp\" alt=\"UK rocket builder Orbex has signed a letter of intent to sell to European space logistics startup The Exploration Company.\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5953 lazyload\"  data- style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 800px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 800\/500;\"\/>Credit: Orbex<\/p>\n<p>UK-based rocket builder Orbex has signed a letter of intent to sell its business to European space logistics startup The Exploration Company.<\/p>\n<p>Orbex was founded in 2015 and is developing a small launch vehicle called Prime. The company also began work on a larger, medium-lift launch vehicle called Proxima in December 2024.<\/p>\n<p>On 21 January, Orbex published a brief press release stating that a letter of intent had been signed and that negotiations had begun. The company added that all details about the transaction remain confidential at this stage. A statement from Orbex CEO Phil Chambers suggests that the company\u2019s financial position factored into its decision to pursue a buyer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur Series D fundraising could have led us in many directions,\u201d said Chambers. \u201cWe believe this opportunity plays to the strengths of both businesses, and we look forward to sharing more when the time is right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In her own statement, The Exploration Company\u2019s CEO H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Huby described the two businesses as \u201ccomplementary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOrbex and TEC are complementary. We are working closely with the UK government to ensure that our combined business reinforces the UK\u2019s launcher roadmap. We will be respecting the confidentiality of this process and will share more in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Exploration Company is building a reusable space capsule that will initially ferry cargo to the International Space Station. The company is developing, under a CNES-financed project, a high-thrust reusable rocket engine called Typhoon. Since its founding in 2021, the company has raised \u20ac225 million.<\/p>\n<p>        Keep European Spaceflight Independent<\/p>\n<p>Your donation will help European Spaceflight to continue digging into the stories others miss. Every euro keeps our reporting alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Orbex UK-based rocket builder Orbex has signed a letter of intent to sell its business to European&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[144909,90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-382429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-orbex","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-space","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}