Welcome to SpaceTech Ireland — a fast, Ireland-focused read on the space economy.

This week: Europe's heavy-lift Ariane 64 launches carrying Dublin firm Realtra’s camera system marking the start of a lucrative partnership with Amazon’s satellite arm. InnaLabs secures its second ESA planetary defence contract on the €81 million Ramses asteroid mission, and 22 Irish space companies travelled to Toulouse for matchmaking sessions with French aerospace firms. The jobs market remains hot: ESA has opened over 100 graduate trainee positions while Mbryonics and InnaLabs continue a major hiring push.

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The biggest Irish space story this week is Ariane 64 - the four-booster heavy-lift version of Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket - launching successfully Thursday from Kourou, French Guiana, carrying 32 Amazon Leo satellites into low Earth orbit.

Dublin-based Réaltra Space Systems Engineering had its VIKI HD Video Telemetry System onboard, providing live HD video from six cameras positioned around the launcher. The cameras captured stage separation, fairing separation, and payload deployment as planned.

This marks a significant milestone for Réaltra. In October 2025, ArianeGroup awarded the company a production contract exceeding €1.5 million to deliver seven additional VIKI systems for future Ariane 6 flights, beyond the five systems already delivered. Réaltra's VIKI system has been flying since the James Webb Space Telescope launch on Ariane 5 in December 2021, and provided the onboard footage for Ariane 6's debut flight last July.

For founders/engineers: Réaltra's approach of adapting commercial off-the-shelf terrestrial aerospace hardware for space use offers a viable path for Irish SMEs to enter the launcher supply chain. The VIKI system originated from a €1 million ESA-supported development contract in 2019 and has grown into a multi-million euro production programme.

For investors: This is the first of 18 contracted Ariane 6 launches for Amazon Leo, meaning recurring revenue for Réaltra's VIKI system across the constellation deployment.

Watch replays on arianespace.com/road-to-space.

Dublin-based InnaLabs has won a contract for the Ramses spacecraft, which will study the asteroid Apophis during its close flyby of Earth in April 2029.

The European Space Agency signed an €81.2 million contract with OHB Italia on Monday for the construction, assembly and testing of the Ramses spacecraft. The mission's total value is approximately €150 million.

InnaLabs, based in Blanchardstown, will supply its ARIETIS-NS 3-axis gyroscope navigation system for the spacecraft. This is the company’s second foray into ESA’s grandly termed “Planetary Defence Mission”, following Hera which launched in October 2024.

CEO John O’Leary noted on LinkedIn that InnaLabs has “navigation sensors and systems that have logged over five million hours in space”. The company said last June that it was in the process of securing additional contracts with further announcements expected.

Ramses will rendezvous with the asteroid Apophis ahead of its close flyby of Earth in April 2029. ESA completed the Critical Design Review on 6 February, confirming the design is "mature, robust and ready to be built".

What This Means: The Ramses contract signing confirms funding pledged at last year’s ESA ministerial meeting, or CM25 (where the government committed €170 million to ESA programmes through 2030) is now being spent on hardware programmes.

InnaLabs' progression from Hera subcontractor to repeat supplier on Ramses shows how Irish SMEs can build a track record with ESA prime contractors like OHB and GMV through reliable performance on an initial mission.

The spacecraft launches in spring 2028, arriving at Apophis in February 2029 ahead of the asteroid's Earth flyby on 13 April 2029.

ESA's Phi-Lab Ireland programme is expected to open its second funding call this month. The initiative offers seed funding of up to €400,000 per project (24 months maximum) and is explicitly open to companies entering the space sector for the first time, not just established space firms.

The programme provides access to equipment at Irish Manufacturing Research in Mullingar and Trinity's AMBER Centre, focusing on advanced materials, additive manufacturing, structural analysis and smart materials integration. Companies in composites, coatings, 3D printing or smart materials are particularly relevant. Watch www.esaphilab.ie for the call announcement. The programme runs two calls per year from 2026 onwards.

€15M EU Space Data Closing NEXT WEEK

The EUSPA Horizon call (HORIZON-EUSPA-2026-SPACE) closes Feb 23-24 with €15 million split across two topics: €10 million for space data economy applications in clean energy, climate adaptation and sustainable cities (Feb 23), and €5 million for crisis management and security focused on first responders and critical infrastructure (Feb 24). Both require consortium applications with three or more partners from three or more countries. Unless you've already drafted a proposal, you've missed this round. Irish firms working with Copernicus or Galileo data should note the next EUSPA call is expected in October 2026, giving eight months to build European partnerships.

The main opportunity opens 10 March: Horizon Europe's space programme (HORIZON-CL4-2026-SPACE) launches six calls worth over €50 million total, with a September 3 deadline. The calls cover spaceports, Earth observation and satcom technology (companies in the mould of Skytek, Ubotica, Réaltra), and critical space components (like InnaLabs, Mbryonics, ÉireComposites). Six months is seen as a realistic timeline to build consortia and draft proposals. We'll break down which calls matter most for Irish companies in next week's edition.

More than 50 companies - 22 Irish and 29 French - met in Toulouse on Monday for the first Irish-French Space Event, a day-long matchmaking session organised by Aerospace Valley, Enterprise Ireland and Expertise France.

The event opened with presentations from Irish officials on challenges facing Ireland's space sector, followed by pitches from Irish companies working in optics, photonics, radar, composite materials, electronic systems and embedded AI. French participants then outlined the capabilities of Aerospace Valley, Europe's largest aerospace cluster with nearly 600 member organisations across the Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine regions.

Enterprise Ireland reported a record €24 million in ESA contracts secured in 2024. Ireland has committed €170 million to European space programmes, with the sector forecast to reach €1 billion in global sales by 2030.

For France, Aerospace Valley's latest annual report flagged €458 million in accompanied investments. Four successful Ariane 6 flights in 2025 have set the stage for higher launch rates this year.

What This Means: Irish firms bring specialist capabilities in software, AI and advanced materials that complement France's large-scale manufacturing strengths. With ESA budgets under pressure and New Space reshaping supply chains, partnerships between Irish SMEs and established French primes could benefit both sides.

Next week: Details on Horizon Europe funding. We'll break down the four calls that matter, and how to get a bid up and running.

SpaceTech Ireland tracks funding, contracts, and careers in Ireland's €24M+ space economy - delivered weekly.

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