During the next two years, European launch startups will attempt to break past the Kármán line for the first time—and customers are already lining up to fly.
This week, Germany’s Isar Aerospace announced a launch service agreement with Austrian satellite manufacturer R-Space to fly two sats aboard Isar’s Spectrum rocket in the latter half of next year.
Isar Aerospace was able to lock down this agreement even though it has yet to reach orbit—Isar’s test flight in March flew for just 30 seconds before crash-landing in the sea.
However, Isar’s ability to book customers on an as-yet unproven rocket is far from unique in the industry. Payload spoke with several European launch startups, and found a similar story time and again.
Sky high demand: The main thing driving these early launch service agreements is the sheer number of satellites being developed in Europe by companies looking for a quick path to orbit.
“The reality is that in Europe today there is very limited launch availability, and the few options that exist are already oversubscribed,” Raúl Verdú, co-founder and chief business development officer of PLD Space, told Payload. “In the United States, there is no immediate availability and low opportunities for dedicated flights, which makes it difficult for smaller payload operators.”
This mismatch between supply and demand has created a favorable sales pipeline for PLD, which has already sold out 80% of its flights until 2027. Some of its customers include the Spanish government and Italy’s D-Orbit. D-Orbit, for example, will fly its ION Satellite Carrier on PLD’s Miura 5 launcher.
Most of PLD’s early manifest has been taken by the Spanish government, according to Verdú, but the company is seeing increased demand across the commercial sector, especially from communications and EO companies.
Other launch companies already booking customers across the EU space landscape include:
- Orbex, the UK small launcher which is targeting an inaugural flight in 2026, announced an agreement with D-Orbit UK in February, giving D-Orbit UK access to fly sats on two missions of Orbex’s Prime rocket during the next three years.
- In July, Orbex also announced an agreement with Exolaunch to fill space on future flights of Orbex’s Prime and Proxima rockets.
- MaiaSpace, a Paris startup and subsidiary of ArianeGroup that intends to launch its first suborbital flight in 2026, has signed an agreement with France’s Exotrail for multiple missions beginning in 2027.
Risky business: The demand for launch in Europe is so strong that some launch companies are even booking space on their demonstration flights. Launch companies are able to convince customers to take a chance on these early flights, which typically do not reach orbit, by offering massive discounts and in some cases, free flights.
PLD Space, for instance, plans to host customer payloads on its demonstration flights beginning next year through the company’s SPARK program, which allows payloads from commercial, institutional, and academic customers to fly for free on test flights.
Skyrora, the UK launcher that received its launch license from the UK government last month, told Payload that it will fly three customer payloads on its demonstration flight next year.
“The clients onboard have been working closely with us for several years, helping shape our service offerings and customer journey,” Derek Harris, Skyrora’s business development lead, told Payload. “Their involvement goes beyond a transactional relationship—they’ve invested time and effort alongside us, which speaks volumes about their confidence in our mission.”
MaiaSpace, which made the decision to fly its demonstration flights without customers on board, told Payload that one of the key levers to convince customers to sign on this early is to propose financial incentives.
“Results are extremely encouraging,” a MaiaSpace spokesperson told Payload. “We already have dozens of advance discussions with prospects that are likely to result in launch contracts, covering several years of operation of our Maia launcher before the first test flight.”
The bottom line: It’s unclear which of these launch startups can make it over the technical hurdles to host regular and reliable launches from European launch sites. Given the demand for their services, however, long-term success for launchers will depend almost entirely on their internal economics as opposed to external market forces.
