In July 2024, the European Space Resources Innovation Centre (ESRIC) located in Luxembourg, launched a call to select commercial projects for the world’s first Space Resources Accelerator. The programme aims to support scale-ups with proven business models in terrestrial and space markets with the capacity to develop applications for the emerging lunar economy. Following a joint evaluation with the European Space Agency (ESA), six projects led by companies based in Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland and the United Kingdom, have been selected.
“With the addition of this first cohort from the Space Resources Accelerator to the ones from our incubator – the Start-Up Support Programme (SSP), ESRIC will have engaged with more than 25 ventures since its inception in 2020. We are glad to work alongside the private sector to support their lunar exploration efforts and be in capacity to engage with ventures throughout their scaling journey, from idea to scale-up, through our various programmes,” states Kathryn Hadler, Director of ESRIC.
The accelerator received applications from Pre-Seed to Series A ventures developing innovative solutions in data, mobility, power and infrastructure across 14 countries in Europe and Canada. The selected companies will receive support to refine and strengthen their project proposals, with the end goal of launching a project co-funded by the ESA. They include:
- FibreCoat, Germany-based, founded in 2020 with 40+ employees and €25M+ raised (Series B), is producing high-performance materials for the defence, space, mobility and construction markets, paving the way for fibre-based solutions to support lunar infrastructure and humanity’s exploration endeavours.
- Maana Electric, Luxembourg-based, founded in 2018 with 25 employees, €18M+ revenue generated (order book of €100M+) and €1M+ raised (Seed), is specialized in ISRU and power generation for both terrestrial and space markets, advancing towards its goal of producing solar resources on the Moon.
- Orbital Matter, Poland-based, founded in 2022 with four employees and €1M+ raised (Pre-Seed), is focusing on construction and additive manufacturing in microgravity for the space market, which could also enable lunar infrastructure use cases.
- Orbit Fab UK, founded in 2022, the European office of the US-led Orbit Fab group, with 60+ employees and €40M+ raised (Series A), is developing the orbital supply chain and infrastructure needed to reliably supply fuel in-orbit, changing the “single-use” paradigm for satellites and building a bustling orbital economy. Their technology can be adapted for use on the lunar surface to autonomously refuel landers, hoppers and rovers.
- Space Power, UK-based, founded in 2022 with 10+ employees and €250K+ raised (Pre-Seed), is developing universal power beaming for the space market with a plasma cleaning technology to enable lunar dust mitigation and maximise operational efficiency.
- Volta Space Technologies, Canada-based, founded in 2020 with 10+ employees across Canada and US, private funds raised (Seed), is building a wireless power transmission satellite constellation to bring energy as a service globally and around the Moon, enabling explorers and settlers to operate affordably and indefinitely.