Themis has arrived at Esrange – new milestone for Europe’s reusable rocket demonstrator
On 27 June, Europe’s reusable first stage demonstrator “Themis” arrived at SSC’s Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden. Developed by French-German space company ArianeGroup and managed as part of ESA’s space transportation reusability roadmap, preparations for Europe’s first-ever reuse hop-tests will now begin, in the scope of the EU funded Horizon Europe project SALTO.
The demonstrator has now reached its destination at the Esrange test facility. Inside the Launch Vehicle Integration building, SSC and ArianeGroup teams will now complete integration of the experimental payloads prepared by the SALTO project partners before finalizing the demonstrator’s preparation and flight configuration.
Themis will then be erected on its launch pad for the first time. In the coming weeks, the initial phase of the test campaign — known as the “combined tests” — will begin. Starting with wet-dress rehearsals and hot-fire tests, a first hop-test featuring initial attempts at stabilized low-altitude vertical take-off and landing flight, referred to as a “hop test”, will then take place no earlier than the end of 2025. The data and experience gained during this short but critical maneuver will form the foundation for progressively more advanced test flights.
Themis is Europe’s first full-scale reusable rocket stage demonstrator, developed under ESA’s Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP). By boat and truck, Themis made its journey from ArianeGroup’s facility in Les Mureaux, France, to SSC’s Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden.
“The arrival of the Themis at Esrange marks an important milestone for this project. I am very proud of the efforts by the whole team at SSC, making this possible. Now, we are all excited to see the result of this dedicated work. Over the past few years, we have worked intensely to prepare for the arrival. A dedicated launch pad, vehicle integration building, and launch control center are being completed, along with safety and security installations — including the range warning system, firefighting robot, low- and high-pressure nitrogen plants, dry air plant, electric and fluidic ground support equipment, and propellant storage tanks, to name a few,” says Ulrika Unell, President Orbital Launch & Rocket Test at SSC.
Press contact: Philip Ohlsson, Press & PR, +46 70 721 70 26, philip.ohlsson@sscspace.com
Media assets: https://sscspace.canto.global/b/MH20R
About SSC: Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) is a leading global provider of advanced space services, with more than 50 years of experience. We help space organizations, research institutes, commercial and institutional actors from all over the world to get access to space. With local presence on all continents and about 700 committed employees, we offer specialist expertise in satellite communications and satellite control services, spacecraft operations, rocket and balloon systems, launch services and flight test services, as well as engineering, operations and consultancy services for space missions. We enable successful space projects within Earth observation, telecommunications, security, meteorology, navigation and positioning, scientific research and other applications. Among our strongest assets are Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden, set out to be a leading provider of satellite launch services from mainland Europe, as well as one of the world’s largest commercial ground station networks for satellite communications. For more information, visit www.sscspace.com.
