The European Space Agency (ESA) has initiated a new call for proposals, offering a maximum of €16 million for the design, development, production, launch, and recovery of five scientific experiments. These experiments are slated to fly on one or more sounding rockets between 2027 and 2028.
This call, initially announced in March and officially opened for proposals on May 13, 2026, is for experiments selected through the Exploration Science Announcement of Opportunity for Sounding Rocket Experiments. This ESA program is dedicated to scientific research in microgravity using suborbital rockets.
Sounding rockets are suborbital vehicles utilized for short-duration scientific missions. They can provide several minutes of microgravity at significantly lower costs compared to orbital missions, albeit with corresponding limitations. ESA typically conducts approximately one mission per year under this program.
Historically, these flights have taken place from the Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden, employing TEXUS vehicles managed by Airbus on behalf of DLR and ESA, or through SSC Space Suborbital Express flights.
The current call does not specify which vehicle must be used. The selected contractors will be responsible for identifying and procuring one or more suborbital launches that meet ESA’s experimental requirements, including microgravity, telemetry, and payload recovery. This approach opens the door for new European operators in the suborbital sector.
The Experiments
The five selected experiments cover diverse areas of space and technological research:
- CHIP-II will investigate whether electrical charge promotes the aggregation of dust particles in the early stages of planetary formation.
- LifeACTImm will analyze the effects of microgravity on immune system cells and test potential countermeasures to mitigate their impact.
- FERMISE will focus on studying fire propagation and developing technologies to mitigate fire risks in future space missions.
- P-REX will concentrate on extracting and purifying water and volatile compounds from lunar regolith using cold trap systems, a technology deemed strategic for future lunar infrastructure.
- LAMDA-g will test metal additive manufacturing processes using lasers in a gravity-free environment.
Three of the selected experiments – CHIP-II, LifeACTImm, and FERMISE – are follow-on missions from previous campaigns. Contractors will have the option to reuse and update existing modules or develop new ones. P-REX and LAMDA-g, however, will necessitate entirely new platforms.
