The Exploration Company nabs $450 million to challenge SpaceX
The Exploration Company nabs $450 million to challenge SpaceX
The Exploration Company 融资 4.5 亿美元，旨在挑战 SpaceX
The queue to send objects into orbit is growing, but space infrastructure isn’t keeping up with demand. As the realization sinks in that Elon Musk’s SpaceX can’t be the sole answer, other companies are raising their hand — and money. These include The Exploration Company (TEC), which operates out of Germany, France, Luxembourg, Spain, and Italy, and which has raised $450 million in what it describes as “the largest-ever Series C by a European space company.”
将物体送入轨道的排队需求日益增长，但太空基础设施却无法跟上需求。随着人们逐渐意识到埃隆·马斯克的 SpaceX 无法成为唯一的解决方案，其他公司纷纷挺身而出并开始筹集资金。其中包括在德国、法国、卢森堡、西班牙和意大利运营的 The Exploration Company (TEC)，该公司已筹集 4.5 亿美元，并称这是“欧洲太空公司有史以来规模最大的 C 轮融资”。
But the race is global, with U.S.-based rival Stoke Space currently raising a $1 billion Series E round. Rivalry aside, these rounds show that investors on both sides of the Atlantic are willing to back companies seeking to build reusable spacecraft. That’s a category pioneered by SpaceX, but that many players, both public and private, now believe it shouldn’t solely control as space gains strategic importance. These sovereignty-related concerns create extra tailwinds for an EU-headquartered company like TEC.
但这场竞赛是全球性的，总部位于美国的竞争对手 Stoke Space 目前正在进行 10 亿美元的 E 轮融资。撇开竞争不谈，这些融资轮次表明，大西洋两岸的投资者都愿意支持那些致力于制造可重复使用航天器的公司。这是一个由 SpaceX 开创的领域，但随着太空战略重要性的提升，许多公共和私营领域的参与者现在认为，该领域不应由 SpaceX 独占。这些与主权相关的担忧为像 TEC 这样总部位于欧盟的公司带来了额外的助力。
Led by Hélène Huby, a French national who spent two decades at Airbus and ArianeGroup, the company intends to use its funding to build the foundation for a reusable European heavy-lift launcher offering an affordable alternative to SpaceX. SpaceX itself may have no other choice but to loosen its nascent monopoly on low-earth-orbit launches to prioritize its own payloads; reports suggest that its Falcon rockets are already increasingly reserved for its Starlink satellites, amid uncertainty as to what will happen when these get retired in favor of Starship.
在曾在空客 (Airbus) 和阿丽亚娜集团 (ArianeGroup) 工作过二十年的法国人 Hélène Huby 的领导下，该公司打算利用这笔资金为欧洲可重复使用的重型运载火箭奠定基础，从而为 SpaceX 提供一种经济实惠的替代方案。SpaceX 本身可能别无选择，只能放宽其在近地轨道发射领域刚刚形成的垄断地位，以优先考虑其自身的有效载荷；有报道称，其猎鹰 (Falcon) 火箭已越来越多地被预留给星链 (Starlink) 卫星使用，而当这些卫星退役并由星舰 (Starship) 取代时会发生什么，目前尚不确定。
This creates demand that TEC won’t be able to meet for years, even if it sticks to its self-admittedly ambitious timeline. According to Atomico, “10 Nyx missions are booked,” with “more than $2 billion in contracts and commitments.” Some of these commitments come from institutional partners, including the European Space Agency, but also NASA. Its Series C was also transatlantic, with Atomico, and the EQT-managed Scaleup Europe Fund co-leading the round alongside Bessemer Venture Partners, whose partner Alex Ferrara will join TEC’s board of directors.
这创造了 TEC 在未来几年内无法满足的需求，即使它坚持其自认为雄心勃勃的时间表。据 Atomico 称，“已有 10 次 Nyx 任务被预订”，并拥有“超过 20 亿美元的合同和承诺”。其中一些承诺来自包括欧洲航天局 (ESA) 在内的机构合作伙伴，也包括美国国家航空航天局 (NASA)。其 C 轮融资也是跨大西洋的，由 Atomico 和 EQT 管理的 Scaleup Europe Fund 与 Bessemer Venture Partners 共同领投，Bessemer 的合伙人 Alex Ferrara 将加入 TEC 董事会。
This latest round also consolidates TEC’s status as a company mostly funded by private investors, and one that plans accordingly. In a press conference earlier today, Huby said that she’d love to see Europe add human space flight to its roadmap, but wouldn’t be able to convince VCs to spend $4 billion towards a crew capsule, “then wait 10 years.” So, TEC’s timeline is more pragmatic, but it is tight. Its most immediate focus is Nyx, a reusable capsule akin to SpaceX’s Dragon and capable of carrying cargo, then people.
最新一轮融资巩固了 TEC 作为一家主要由私人投资者资助的公司的地位，并使其能够据此进行规划。在今天早些时候的新闻发布会上，Huby 表示，她很乐意看到欧洲将载人航天纳入其路线图，但她无法说服风险投资家花费 40 亿美元去研发载人舱，“然后等待 10 年”。因此，TEC 的时间表更加务实，但也非常紧凑。其最直接的重点是 Nyx，这是一种类似于 SpaceX“龙”飞船的可重复使用舱体，能够运载货物，随后运载人员。
The company intends to get Nyx to dock with the soon-to-be-retired International Space Station and return safely to Earth by November 2028. According to Huby, funding from the Series C will stretch to also fund Storm, a rocket engine program paving the way for further developments, at least initially. “Where we need more money is to build a launch pad, and to build the rocket itself,” she told journalists.
该公司计划在 2028 年 11 月之前让 Nyx 与即将退役的国际空间站对接并安全返回地球。据 Huby 称，C 轮融资的资金还将用于资助 Storm，这是一个为后续发展铺平道路的火箭发动机项目（至少在初期阶段）。她告诉记者：“我们需要更多资金的地方是建造发射台和制造火箭本身。”
TEC wouldn’t be the first European commercial space company to launch a rocket — German startup Isar Aerospace crossed that milestone out of Norway last weekend. Huby praised the feat as “great news for the whole ecosystem,” but said that TEC intends to build a much bigger rocket than Isar’s expandable Spectrum vehicle. However, Isar also has “a much bigger” launch vehicle in its roadmap, Ars Technica reported — presumably for the same reason Huby gave as to why TEC does.
TEC 不会是第一家发射火箭的欧洲商业航天公司——德国初创公司 Isar Aerospace 上周末在挪威实现了这一里程碑。Huby 对这一成就表示赞赏，称其为“整个生态系统的好消息”，但表示 TEC 打算制造比 Isar 的可扩展 Spectrum 火箭大得多的火箭。然而，据 Ars Technica 报道，Isar 的路线图中也有“更大的”运载火箭——大概原因与 Huby 解释 TEC 为何要制造大火箭的原因相同。
“In the next five to 10 years, half of our broadband communication could come from space, data centers could be in space; […] and if this is the case, we need massive rockets and cadence.” That cadence will rely on reusability, which TEC plans to reach by using the same technology as SpaceX and Stoke: full-flow stage combustion “It’s the most difficult, but also the most efficient engine cycle in the world. It is the first time ever in Europe that a company develops such a rocket engine,” Huby said.
“在未来 5 到 10 年内，我们一半的宽带通信可能来自太空，数据中心可能位于太空；……如果真是这样，我们需要大型火箭和高频率发射。”这种频率将依赖于可重复使用性，TEC 计划通过使用与 SpaceX 和 Stoke 相同的技术来实现：全流量分级燃烧循环。“这是世界上最困难，但也是最高效的发动机循环。这是欧洲历史上第一次有公司开发这种火箭发动机，”Huby 说道。
TEC’s advances haven’t gone unnoticed in Europe, with French president Macron and the European Commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen both praising its Series C. It is also not a coincidence that it was disclosed on the eve of the International Space Summit in Paris, where Huby hinted that related announcements will be made.
TEC 的进展在欧洲引起了关注，法国总统马克龙和欧盟委员会主席冯德莱恩都对其 C 轮融资表示赞赏。这并非巧合，该消息是在巴黎国际空间峰会前夕披露的，Huby 暗示届时将会有相关公告发布。