Landing leg deployment test for Themis at Vernon, France in 2023.

Themis is ESA’s rocket prototype – a flagship European demonstrator for low-cost rocket recovery and reuse technologies. Themis will be powered by the reusable, methane-fuelled engine Prometheus, named after the Greek mythological figure who stole fire from the gods and brought it to humans. Themis was the mother of Prometheus.

Developed with ArianeGroup as prime contractor and building on decades of European research and experience in rocketry and space operations, Themis is designed to launch, land vertically and live on for another mission.  

The landing legs are developed, manufactured, and tested by Almatech from Switzerland. The landing legs use gravity to deploy and are made of composite materials. Themis will have a full set of four landing legs on its flight tests from Kiruna spaceport in Sweden.

Themis will demonstrate and prove Europe’s ability to take off and vertically land a rocket, and will also be the flying test bed for other technologies such as new avionics or engine activation and controls developed across ESA programmes.

Themis is part of ESA’s Future Launchers Preparatory Programme, developing new launch systems to meet Europe’s institutional and commercial needs and putting Europe at the forefront of developments in space. It oversees launch system studies and research activities while challenging industry to create new, reliable technologies at lower cost, working towards a more reusable and sustainable use of space.