The Exploration Company CEO Huby has found herself at the center of debates over the future of Europe’s space sector. Huby’s company, where she serves as an ambassador alongside astronaut Thomas Pesquet at the International Space Summit organized by French President Emmanuel Macron, announced $450 million in funding in a Series C round this week. This was the largest Series C round carried out by a Europe-based space company.
Huby argues that Europe has fallen behind the US and China in space. Europe’s main rocket, Ariane 6, is high-cost, fully expendable and, with a capacity of 10 launches per year, struggling to meet the needs of the megaconstellation satellite era. The IRIS² project, Europe’s response to SpaceX’s Starlink network, has also been delayed for years, with its estimated cost exceeding $15 billion.
After working at Airbus and ArianeGroup for around a decade, Huby founded The Exploration Company five years ago. The company is developing the Nyx cargo vehicle, which will be capable of delivering supplies to low Earth orbit and returning. Nyx is undergoing NASA safety reviews for a mission to the International Space Station in November 2028 at the earliest. The company has also begun preliminary work on a crewed vehicle that could be used on the International Space Station or on private stations developed by US companies.
European Space Agency leader Josef Aschbacher said he hoped to secure authorization from European leaders by the end of the year to develop this capability. In that case, The Exploration Company could be one of the leading candidates among crewed-service providers.
The company is also developing a full-flow staged-combustion engine called “Storm,” which uses liquid oxygen and methane and produces approximately 400,000 pounds of thrust. The engine is planned to power a rocket capable of carrying 40 metric tons in a reusable configuration and 60 tons in an expendable configuration. Huby said the ambitious target for the rocket is 2033, while the target for firing the Storm prototype is late 2028.
Saying that the $450 million investment would not be sufficient for the crewed vehicle and large rocket, Huby stated that a new funding round would be needed. He called for support from politicians and the European Space Agency for Europe to achieve its goals.
Why it matters
This development concretizes Europe’s effort to create companies that offer access-to-orbit and return services, rather than merely serving as a buyer of rockets and satellites in space. The Exploration Company’s plans tie the debate over closing Europe’s capability gap with the US and China to vehicles, engines and launch systems developed by private companies. However, the company’s need for new funding for its crewed vehicle and large rocket goals shows that investment alone is not sufficient. The progress of the projects will remain dependent on political authorization from the European Space Agency, NASA’s safety review and the continuity of public support. Thus, the open question is less the company’s technical goals than whether European institutions can turn these goals into a long-term program.
Background
Europe is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: over the past 90 days, we have published 4 articles mentioning the name; the latest was dated September 12, 2026.
Term: agent
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