Crew and Cargo Transport, with Hélène Huby (The Exploration Company)

Pathfinder

Since stints at Airbus and ArianeGroup, Hélène Huby has shifted her focus to developing the Nyx spacecraft, Europe’s first privately funded cargo and crew capsule - a significant step for ESA’s future in the global space race. As of now, Europe does not have its own operational cargo or crew capsule and has relied on the capabilities of the US and Russia.

Huby has already made significant progress securing the largest Series A financing for a European space startup - a €40.5 million round in February of 2023. In addition to The Exploration Company’s origin story, Mo and Helene discuss:

• The first launch in 2024
• Nyx vs. Starliner vs. Crew Dragon
• Capsule design challenges
• Why Europe does not have a capsule

And much more…

This episode is brought to you by SpiderOak, a US-based software company that builds space cybersecurity products and solutions for civilian, military, and commercial space operations. Learn more at https://spideroak.com/

• Chapters •

00:00 - Intro & SpiderOak Ad

01:50 - Helene's background and how she started The Exploration Company

04:12 - Lack of government funded capsules in Europe

08:58 - Why build crew capsules?

13:15 - The Nyx capsule

16:26 - Fuel selection

18:37 - Nyx vs. Starliner vs. Crew Dragon

21:11 - Design challenges shifting from cargo to human

24:43 - The product roadmap

28:23 - SpiderOak Ad break

29:10 - The business model

31:23 - Is there a market for a space station?

37:17 - Building and R&D for a space station with and without government aid

41:49 - Commercial traction

44:20 - Being the first privately funded crew capsule

48:28 - The long-term vision

• Show notes •

The Exploration Company's website — https://www.exploration.space/

Mo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam

Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace

Pathfinder archive — Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@payloadspace Pathfinder archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/episodes

• About us •

Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 15,000+ commercial, civil, and military space leaders. Payload is read by decision-makers at every leading new space company, along with c-suite leaders at all of the aerospace & defense primes. We’re also read on Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and at space agencies around the world. Payload began as a weekly email sent to a few friends and coworkers.

Today, we’re a team distributed across four time zones and two continents, publishing three media properties across multiple platforms: 1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, sends M-F @ 9am Eastern (https://newsletter.payloadspace.com/) 2) Pathfinder publishes weekly on Tuesday mornings (pod.payloadspace.com) 3) Polaris, our weekly policy publication, hits inboxes Tuesday (https://polaris.payloadspace.com/) 4) Parallax, our weekly space science briefing, hits inboxes Thursday (https://parallax.payloadspace.com/)