Europe’s future space transport ecosystem
ESA’s future launcher preparatory programme is crafting a space transportation ecosystem, guiding the companies and engineers of today to develop and test the technologies required to meet future needs.
Space transportation will be moving towards frequent reusable launchers supporting a complete 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. These hubs will offer refilling and maintenance services for spacecraft and provide platforms for manufacturing and assembly and in space transportation to other destinations.
To create this new transportation ecosystem, new technology developments are needed, such as automatic rendezvous and capturing of spacecraft, transfer of fuel and payloads between spacecraft, tugging spacecraft to other orbits around Earth or destinations in space.
The end goal for companies working on a proof of concept is to fly a demonstrator mission in space. Together with ESA, industry will get to this point through a process that starts with discussing needs and proposing solutions, and is followed by proving their use-case and collaborating on standards and regulations. Developing and demonstrating these new technologies is also expected to open commercial opportunities for European space transportation companies.
Finally, the Odyssey project proposes to put all these key technologies together into one package by providing a dedicated service for transport vehicles and spacecraft in orbit: an uncrewed propellant depot offering refilling services. Called Odyssey (a loose abbreviation for Orbital Depot for Your Sustained Space Exploration & beYond) this depot would store propellant brought from visiting supply rockets and distribute it as needed to spacecraft on a stopover to destinations farther away such as the Moon or Mars, or to Earth-orbiting navigation satellites that have used all their propellant and need a refill to extend their working life.
The Odyssey concept, if it can be demonstrated to be viable, would also be a contribution to a more sustainable use of space, by providing important elements of a future circular space economy.
Credits: European Space Agency (ESA)
Access the video on the ESA video library: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2025/09/Europe_s_future_space_transport_ecosystem
★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe and click twice on the bell button to receive our notifications.
Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/SpaceInVideos
Follow us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/ESAonTwitter
On Facebook: http://bit.ly/ESAonFacebook
On Instagram: http://bit.ly/ESAonInstagram
On LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ESAonLinkedIn
On Pinterest: https://bit.ly/ESAonPinterest
On Flickr: http://bit.ly/ESAonFlickr
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Copyright information about our videos is available here: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Terms_and_Conditions
Space Tag、面白い発想だなと思いました。
ロケットだけで目的の軌道に投入するのではなく、中間軌道で待機している宇宙船に乗り換えて最終の目的地に到達させるんですね。Space Tagの保守運用、Odysseyへの燃料補給など、技術分野のみならず採算を取るなど経済的な面でも素人目にはなかなか難易度が高そうに見えますが、応援しています。
日本より🇯🇵
Why always this shitty music. Same with Military stuff. All feels like
Weak marketing. Missing the hands down technical reporting from nasa in the 1960s. ESA should go back to something like this.
As Italian, I'm proud of what the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency are doing togheter.
We may not be the first or the fastest in this new "space race", but that doesn't mean we're doing it wrong. It means we're doing it properly.
Well done guys! Congratulations and keep up the good work. 🫡👍
INCREASE ESA BUDGET BY 1000000000000000% RN
How much in total to build it? That is x
How much to maintain it per year? thats y
I would say, we increase ESA's bidget by 3x once + every year 3y … just to be sure.
Sounds cool. Can't wait to never hear anything about this ever again.
Finally, ESA started to get it! Give them more money please!
It looks like initial capability will come from SpaceX. I hope ESA is planning on cooperation until it can get going.
If we want to make space truly accessible we need more than reusable rockets. We need actual infrastructure eg skyhooks. Anything else will never move past basic exploration.
I still remember the first Ariane 5 explosion 😢
i love this idea, finally someone's going to prioritize space infrastructure
Please let this happen. The West needs to improve their space tech capabilities
But only China and USA are closear for reusable rockets. ESA have got only cartoons and their dreams.😅
Esa dreams, others do. Sigh.