On 15 December, ESA signed a contract worth €33 million with prime contractor ArianeGroup in France for the ‘Themis Initial Phase’. This first phase of the Themis involves the preparation of the flight vehicle technologies, the test bench, and static firing demonstrations at Vernon in France for 2023.

Themis, 30 m high and 3.5 m in diameter, aims to advance key technologies and demonstrate reusability capabilities in Europe. On the other hand, ESA’s Prometheus is a highly versatile engine capable of providing 1000 kN of variable thrust and is reignitable which makes it suitable for core, booster, and upper stage application.