The Exploration Company, a German space transportation firm, established TEC Federal as its U.S. subsidiary to pursue American government contracts and opened a Rapid Innovation Lab in Houston near NASA's Johnson Space Center. The new entity and lab will provide engineering and testing capabilities for government programs, positioning the company to compete for cargo and crew contracts as space agencies plan for human presence in low Earth orbit after the ISS retires. CEO Hélène Huby cited access to decades of human spaceflight expertise in Houston as key to accelerating development of a crewed capsule.
The company is targeting a 2028 orbital test flight of its cargo-variant Nyx spacecraft, funded partly through the European Space Agency's LEO Cargo Return initiative, which provided 25 million euros in Phase 1 support. ESA is deciding whether to fund Phase 2 with an additional 200 million euros to complete the demonstration mission. The Houston lab includes a full-scale mockup of the planned crewed Nyx, which will be used to refine crew interfaces as the company pursues larger U.S. government funding sources for its human spaceflight development.