Arianespace to Launch Exotrail’s First GEO ‘spacevan’
Exotrail’s orbital transfer vehicle, SpaceVan. Photo: Exotrail
Arianespace will launch Exotrail’s first GEO mission of its spacevan vehicle in a new deal announced Tuesday. The spacevan is an orbital transfer vehicle designed to deploy and transport other payloads in space.
Arianespace will launch the spacevan to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) as an auxiliary passenger on a Ariane 64 mission in the second half of 2026. Ariane 64 is the heavy lift version of the Ariane 6 launcher with four solid boosters. The launcher commented that orbiting the vehicle as an auxiliary payload, demonstrates the capacity of Ariane 6 “to accomplish complex missions for a variety of customers.”
This will be Exotrail’s fourth spacevan mission, but the first one headed to Geostationary Orbit (GEO). The mission is supported by French space agency CNES and the France 2030 national investment plan.
Exotrail delivered its first customer payload to orbit with spacevan in a demonstration earlier this year.
“With this mission, we aim at opening new possibilities for the growing demand of smaller birds needing to reach the Geostationary arc”, commented Exotrail CEO Jean-Luc Maria. “The partnership between the European heavy launcher and our servicing satellite addresses one of the ambitions tackled by France 2030, which is extending the European sovereignty of access to space, up to the GEO arc.”
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