Dassault Aviation and OHB have announced that they are teaming up to propose to the European Space Agency (ESA) a multipurpose spaceplane, VORTEX-S, capable of round-trip transport to space stations and autonomous orbital free-flyer missions, together with a number of other European partners.
Together, Dassault Aviation, serving as the VORTEX-S prime architect and global integrator of the spaceplane, and OHB, serving as the architect and integrator of the service module, will form the core team of the proposed ESA project. Discussions are underway with other major European space companies to expand the team for this project, which will advance Europe’s future in space mobility.
Éric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, stated:
“With the VORTEX-S proposal to ESA, we aim to strengthen Europe’s space capabilities. Our German friends at OHB are natural partners to participate in this project, bringing their remarkable expertise. We are very pleased with this collaboration, which promises to be highly effective.”
Marco Fuchs, CEO of OHB, added:
“VORTEX-S for ESA is an ambitious initiative driven by the need for autonomous European space transportation capabilities. As one of Europe’s leading space companies, the orbital domain is our natural playing field. The partnership with Dassault Aviation is a perfect match: as family-owned high-tech companies, we share the same vision and bring complementary strengths to the development of a reusable spaceplane — Dassault Aviation as aircraft manufacturer, and OHB as space company.”
