Avio reuseable upper stage demonstration mission concept

Concept rocket illustrating a reusable upper stage. 

Space transportation is moving towards frequent reusable launchers supporting an industrial ecosystem around Earth. In the coming decades, the European Space Agency (ESA) foresees transportation hubs in orbit around our planet providing logistic services much like airports or train stations on Earth. Frequent flights to space would benefit from completely reusable rockets, and today’s signature kicks off industrial activity to assess the technologies needed and design concepts for an upper stage demonstration mission

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Avio signed a contract for 24-months of development activities aiming at the in-flight demonstration of a reusable upper stage on 29 September 2025.

Building on past and currently ongoing industrial work, the activities will address a demonstrator mission system requirements and technological solutions, ending with a preliminary design for both the flight and ground segments. The contract tackles the technological challenges and focusses on disruptive solutions. The activities will support European industry, reducing development risks as they move towards full rocket reusability into future evolutions of European launch systems, allowing for more flexibility, cost-efficiency and competitiveness.

An upper stage is the last part of a rocket that delivers a payload. Also called an orbital stage these elements have so far never been reused. Europe has demonstrated the capability of all aspects of launching hardware to space and returning it safely to Earth, but putting it all together into a complete reusable upper stage that also launches payloads has the possibility to be a gamechanger.