The Azores Space Tech Hub will launch the Space Rider in 2028

The Azores Space Tech Hub will launch the Space Rider in 2028 - Portugal Business News

Space News Europe - The Azores Space Tech Hub will launch the Space Rider in 2028, while Space companies including Space Forge, Orbital Paradigm, the Atlantic Spaceport Consortium (ASC), Space Forest, Stellar Kinetics, ATMOS Space Cargo and US companies plan to establish operations in Portugal´s new Space Hub. Portugal´s new Space industry is a geo-strategic location with the Santa Maria Space Hub in the Azores set to become a critical infrastructure for the European Defence industry. Here are the descriptions of the Santa Maria Space Hub and of the Space Rider:

What is the Santa Maria Space Hub (Centro Tecnológico Espacial de Santa Maria) in the Azores?

The Santa Maria Space Hub (Centro Tecnológico Espacial de Santa Maria) in the Azores will begin construction in 2027 with an investment of 15 million euros from the Portuguese Space Agency, that includes 3 million euros from the Government of the Azores, and will be completed in 2028 in time for the Space Rider inaugural flight. The Azores Space Hub will receive Space vehicles that will be launched from Guyana, Europe, and other locations, and is set to receive unmanned Space vehicles for landing and to launch satellites.

The Santa Maria Space Hub is also expected to serve as an entry point for materials produced in Space, which would then be shipped to other parts of Europe and of the world, becoming the center of a new global supply chain for advanced materials.

US companies intend to use the Santa Maria Space Hub in the Azores as a Space Airport for Space missions returning to Earth via the Portuguese Azores islands, in view of the geostrategic importance of the Atlantic islands.

Portugal committed an investment of 204.8 million euros to the European Space Agency (ESA) in November 2025, that is the country´s largest Space investment to date ever. The ESA has a budget of 22.1 billion euros for Space missions during the period ending in 2030. Portugal´s investment in the Space industry includes an allocation by Portugal´s Ministry of Defence that is focused on strengthening the Atlantic Constellation and in developing dual-use Space systems, capable of simultaneously meeting civilian and Defense needs.

The Atlantic Constellation will be comprised of 11 Portuguese satellites and will involve the Portuguese Air Force as well as the Portuguese Space Agency. Space has become a strategic sector for European Defence since the war in Ukraine began in Space before Russian troops even set foot on Ukrainian soil. European Space technology will thus ensure that troops remain informed and connected to defend themselves and Europe as a whole.

What is the Space Rider?

The Space Rider will be Europe's first reusable Space transportation system that will operate without a crew and will be launched by the ESA, the European Space Agency.

The inaugural Space Rider flight will be in 2028 and will be launched aboard a Vega-C launcher from the Guiana Spaceport and is set to return to the Santa Maria Space Hub in the Azores. At the end of its mission, Space Rider will return to Earth with its payloads and land on the runway of the Santa Maria Space Hub to be unloaded and refurbished for another flight. The unmanned vehicle will return to Earth by landing with an automated parachute system that allows for controlled descent. According to the ESA, this type of controlled landing has not yet been tested on an operational spacecraft, which is why multiple tests will be carried out before the inaugural flight. To test the final landing phase, the Space Rider model will be launched several times from a helicopter which will fly to an altitude of 3 kilometers above the Salto di Quirra test site in Sardinia.

The Space Rider return flight to the Azores is a project is led by Portugal and Italy and the test model was built by the Romanian National Institute for Aerospace Research (INCAS) before being sent to the Italian Center for Aerospace Research (CIRA). The Space Rider model includes the avionics system that will control the parachute during landing, using navigation, guidance, and control software to adjust the trajectory in real time. The Space Rider's thermal protection system, that is comprised of 21 plates made of ISiComp ceramic material developed by CIRA and Petroceramics, has already undergone testing under extreme conditions in a plasma wind tunnel.

The first Space Rider flight will remain in Low Earth Orbit for around two months in order to conduct various types of experiments and operations. The Space Rider cargo bay will allow technology experiments and will benefit research in pharmaceutics, biomedicine, biology and physical science.

Here is the link to the description of the Atlantic Spaceport Consortium.