Europe's Next-gen Rocket Design Competition Had Surprise Bidder

摘要

Astrium Space Transportation and OHB AG will lead two consortia to perform a design of a new heavy-lift launch vehicle for the European Space Agency (ESA) following a bidding competition that included a surprise third bidder in Reaction Engines Ltd. of Britain, ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain said here July 10. The British bidder, a company that for more than a decade has been designing a spaceplane using a radical new engine design for atmospheric and orbital flight, was not selected for what ESA calls its New European Launch Service.