The first landing of a rocket on European soil might just come from an American company.
Astrobotic signed an agreement with Andøya Space, allowing the Pittsburgh, PA-based startup to launch its Xodiac vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL) vehicle from Andøya’s northern Norwegian spaceport beginning in 2026.
The Xodiac vehicle, built to simulate lunar and planetary landings, has been used extensively to test flight systems and other advanced technologies for Earthbound and deep-space applications.
Testing, testing: Having Xodiac at Andøya’s launch site brings testing capabilities to Europe at a time when the continent is looking to increase its presence in international and sovereign deep-space missions.
Xodiac was first developed by Masten Space Systems in 2015, a company which Astrobotic acquired in 2022 after Masten filed for bankruptcy protection.
The vehicle has flown 175+ suborbital flights, testing a variety of in-flight and precision landing technologies for commercial, academic, and government customers. On its 176th flight in May, however, Xodiac crashed in the Mojave desert due to a yet-to-be-explained anomaly.
Xodiac is fully reusable and can be launched multiple times a day, which company officials say is perfect for European organizations looking to rapidly iterate on new technologies.
“By making a flight-proven, reusable rocket available to commercial and government partners, we’re enabling customers to accelerate the development of space systems in a dedicated environment built for innovation,” Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said in a statement.
Turf war: Xodiac won’t be alone, however, in the push for more suborbital test campaigns from the continent, and taking the title of the first successful landing by a rocket in Europe is far from guaranteed.
The Themis suborbital test vehicle, developed by ArianeGroup under ESA’s Future Launchers Preparatory Program, is also coming online. In June, Themis’s reusable first stage demonstrator arrived at the Esrange Space Center in Northern Sweden, where the stage is undergoing hot fire tests to prepare for its first demonstrations.
Themis is scheduled to perform its first hop test as early as the end of this year, and more flights are planned for 2026.
