{"city":"Munich","name":"The Exploration Company","slug":"the-exploration-company","facts":[{"date":"2026-09-14","type":"funding_round","value":"USD 450000000","source":"FrenchWeb"},{"date":"2026-09-12","type":"contract","value":"EUR 760000000","source":"NASASpaceflight"},{"date":"2026-09-12","type":"funding_round","value":"USD 450000000","source":"NASASpaceflight"},{"date":"2026-09-11","type":"funding_round","value":"USD 450000000","source":"Payload"},{"date":"2026-09-11","type":"funding_round","value":"Private financing for 40% of the initial Nyx demonstration mission","source":"EU-Startups"},{"date":"2026-09-11","type":"product_launch","value":"Nyx capsule","source":"EU-Startups"}],"peers":[{"name":"Airbus Defence & Space","rank":8,"slug":"airbus-defence-space","score":"85"},{"name":"Thales Alenia Space","rank":12,"slug":"thales-alenia-space","score":"82.5"},{"name":"Muon Space","rank":20,"slug":"muon-space","score":"81"},{"name":"K2 Space","rank":22,"slug":"k2-space","score":"80.5"},{"name":"Millennium Space Systems","rank":23,"slug":"millennium-space-systems","score":"80"},{"name":"Redwire","rank":28,"slug":"redwire","score":"79"}],"stage":null,"state":null,"aliases":["Mission Possible","Nyx","ONEIROS","TEC"],"country":"France","domains":[{"why":"The company sells Nyx reusable cargo capsules for commercial and institutional orbital logistics, including cargo transport to and return from the ISS.","list":"Space 100","rank":26,"tier":"member","layer":"Satellites & spacecraft","total":80,"domain":"Space","scores":{"leverage":10,"position":8,"progress":10,"firepower":10,"commercial":6,"deployment":9,"production":4,"technology":6},"edition":"November 2026","segment":"Platforms"}],"founded":null,"signals":[{"date":"2026-10-25","header":"The Exploration Company raises $450 million in Series C funding","outlet":"Sorabatake"},{"date":"2026-10-25","header":"The Exploration Company will put Series C capital into the Nyx reusable capsule and Storm rocket engine","outlet":"Sorabatake"},{"date":"2026-10-25","header":"The Exploration Company raised $450 million in a Series C round for reusable space transportation systems.","outlet":"Sorabatake"},{"date":"2026-10-08","header":"The Exploration Company will test its ONEIROS lunar hopper demonstrator in the UAE in 2027.","outlet":"European Spaceflight"},{"date":"2026-09-20","header":"ESA signs service contract with The Exploration Company for Nyx vehicle under ALADDIN program","outlet":"Raumfahrer.net"},{"date":"2026-09-20","header":"ESA signs service contract with The Exploration Company for Nyx vehicle under ALADDIN program","outlet":"Raumfahrer.net"}],"website":"exploration.space","category":"Space · Satellites & spacecraft","categories":[{"name":"Platforms","domain":"Space","parent":"Space · Satellites & spacecraft"}],"last_round":null,"updated_at":"2026-11-02T11:01:02.193+00:00","facts_total":76,"positioning":"TEC is building reusable orbital cargo capsules sold as a delivery-and-return service, and in September 2026 it became the first European company to win a capsule transportation service contract from ESA in open competition. The ALADDIN Phase 2 contract, signed 2026-09-10 at the International Space Summit in Paris, totals EUR 760 million: EUR 310 million for an initial Nyx demonstration mission to the ISS and EUR 450 million for two optional additional missions. The structure is the interesting part: TEC had to demonstrate technical readiness milestones and secure 40 percent of the demonstration financing privately, with ESA covering 60 percent, pushing Europe toward a NASA-style anchor-customer model. It closed a USD 450 million Series C the same week, taking total funding since 2021 to roughly USD 680 million, and agreed with Arianespace to launch the first Nyx demonstration on Ariane 6. The technology score is held at 3 deliberately. Mission Bikini launched on the maiden Ariane 6 flight in July 2024 but an upper-stage anomaly left it stranded. Mission Possible launched 2025-06-23 on Falcon 9 Transporter-14, powered 25 payloads, held attitude control, re-entered in controlled fashion from 550 kilometres and re-established communications after blackout, then lost contact at 26 kilometres just before parachute deployment and was lost before splashdown. End-to-end reentry and recovery has still never been demonstrated, the gating risk on the whole Nyx business case.","sub_category":"Platforms","signals_total":131,"url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/companies/the-exploration-company","title":"The Exploration Company · space, Munich, France · scores, facts and signals · Frontier Tech Intelligence","description":"The company sells Nyx reusable cargo capsules for commercial and institutional orbital logistics, including cargo transport to and return from the ISS. Space 100 rank 26 (score 80) 131 signals and 76 facts with sources.","publisher":"Frontier Tech Intelligence (Future Frontiers, a trade name of Essential Cognition Inc.)","note":"Assessment by Frontier Tech Intelligence; facts and signals carry their sources."}