WASHINGTON — The Exploration Company said it achieved “partial success” on a test flight of a reentry capsule but lost the spacecraft before it splashed down.
The company launched Mission Possible, a 1.6-ton reentry capsule, on SpaceX’s Transporter-14 rideshare mission. The Falcon 9 carrying Mission Possible and the other rideshare payloads lifted off at 5:25 p.m. Eastern June 23 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Mission Possible was the last payload scheduled to be deployed on Transporter-14, about two hours and 45 minutes after liftoff. The capsule would then perform a controlled reentry and splashdown in the north Pacific Ocean and then be recovered by a ship.
In a statement posted on social media early June 24, the company said the initial phases of the mission went well. That included powering up payloads it carried from customers inside the capsule as well as stabilizing itself after separation from the Falcon 9 upper stage. The spacecraft reentered and was able to reestablish communications after the reentry blackout.
“But it encountered an issue afterwards, based on our current best knowledge, and we lost communication a few minutes before splash down,” the company stated, without specifying the issue. “We are still investigating the root causes and will share more information soon.”
The statement suggested that the capsule was lost, as the company apologized “to all our clients who entrusted us with their payloads.”
Mission Possible was the second test flight for The Exploration Company. Its first, Mission Bikini, was a much smaller reentry demonstrator flown on the inaugural Ariane 6 launch in July 2024. A problem with the upper stage prevented it from performing a reentry burn, so it remained in orbit, with Mission Bikini still attached.
Mission Possible was a much more ambitious mission, attempting to test not just reentry technologies but all the technologies needed for Nyx, the spacecraft the company is developing to transport cargo and, potentially, crews to and from low Earth orbit. The company also has plans for a version of Nyx for lunar missions.
Mission Possible carried 300 kilograms of cargo from customers ranging from cosmetic and pharmaceutical experiments to alcohol, said Victor Maier, lead for Germany and central Europe business at The Exploration Company, at the Paris Air Show on June 16. The company used the air show to announce its intent to develop a crewed version of Nyx.
Maier said then that the company had no plans for additional test missions ahead of a demonstration flight of Nyx to the International Space Station scheduled for 2028, pending support from the European Space Agency, but said the company might consider ground tests of some subsystems.
However, in its social media post, The Exploration Company appeared to indicate it would fly another mission like Mission Possible.
“We have been pushing boundaries in record time and cost, but this partial success reflects both ambition and the inherent risks of innovation,” the company stated. “Leveraging the technical milestones achieved yesterday and the lessons we will extract from our ongoing investigation, we will then prepare to re-fly as soon as possible.”
Other Transporter-14 payloads
Mission Possible was the largest of 70 payloads flown on Transporter-14, the latest in a series of rideshare missions flown by SpaceX. As with previous Transporter flights, this one included a diverse mix of satellites.
Several companies developing constellations were on the mission. Iceye, which operates a radar imaging satellite constellation, had six spacecraft on board, and Capella Space, another radar imaging company, had one. GHGSat has two of its satellites for monitoring greenhouse gases, while Plan-S had four satellites for Internet of Things services.
Argotec, the Italian smallsat manufacturer, launched seven satellites on Transporter-14 for IRIDE, an Earth observation constellation funded by the Italian government with the support of ESA. They join a pathfinder satellite for the constellation launched in January on another Transporter mission.
Starfish Space launched its Otter Pup 2 spacecraft on Transporter-14. That spacecraft will approach a D-Orbit tug separately deployed on Transporter-14 and attempt a docking later this year, a test of technologies Starfish Space is developing for satellite servicing.
York Space Systems launched on Transporter-14 its Dragoon spacecraft, the first of 12 satellites York is building under a contract with the Space Force’s Space Development Agency. The spacecraft is designed to demonstrate secure communications while also testing a new satellite bus developed by York.
Transporter-14 also included a second reentry vehicle in addition to Mission Possible. Varda Space Industries flew its W-4 mission, the first using a spacecraft bus developed in-house after the first three used spacecraft provided by Rocket Lab. The spacecraft will conduct tests of pharmaceutical techniques in microgravity before the capsule returns to land in Australia.