Astrium to Offer Falcon Launcher on European Market

Astrium and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) today signed an agreement to provide dedicated launch services to the European institutional very small satellite market.

This agreement will enable Astrium and SpaceX to market Falcon 1e launch capabilities to space agencies and other institutional customers in Europe for launches to take place through to 2015.

With dedicated launch services, customers with very small payloads can launch independently to low-Earth orbit, giving them greater control over the launch and actual launch schedule. With the Falcon 1e, Astrium and SpaceX will be able to offer these services at the lowest cost per flight.

Alain Charmeau, CEO of Astrium Space Transportation declared: “This agreement will provide European customers with a launch service that complements existing options. In this way, any European customer will be capable of launching very small spacecraft on dedicated launches as primary payloads.”


Astrium, a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, is dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems and services. In 2009, Astrium had a turnover of EUR 4.8 billion and more than 15,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands.

EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2009, EADS generated revenues of EUR 42.8 billion and employed a workforce of more than 119, 000.