About ESA Payload Masters

The ESA Payload Masters comes on the back of ESA’s commitment to develop the European space industry, based on industrialisation and the commercialisation of space products and services, upscaling on global markets, as well as access to new sources of investments and finance. This initiative builds on the well-proven tool of an innovation competition in partnership with AZO Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen as the Organiser of the competition and in cooperation with The Exploration Company (TEC). The purpose of the ESA Payload Masters is to promote and scout for innovative in-orbit experiments and novel technologies for payloads, while also facilitating the democratization of space exploration for space and non-space industries. Being one of the main tools to boost companies’  competitiveness by eliminating the famous “valley of death” and accelerating the deployment of innovative technology, the access to in-Orbit Demonstration and Validation (IOD/IOV) is in the core of this programme.

For its first edition, the ESA Payload Masters partners with The Exploration Company that develops, manufactures, and operates Nyx, a modular and reusable orbital vehicle that can be refuelled in orbit. The first Nyx mission, “Mission Possible”, is a demonstration flight that will showcase the capacity of performing microgravity experiments, in-orbit technology demonstrations, entertainment, and educational missions but also at a later stage cargo delivery to larger space infrastructures or lunar surface. For “Mission Possible” Nyx will carry a total of 300 kg customers’ payloads on board, offering a microgravity environment for several hours before the capsule performs a controlled re-entry, and splashes down in the Ocean. This flight will mark a significant milestone in the development of Nyx and its growth potential to ultimately fly humans in the future.