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

This week: Réaltra's cameras filmed Europe's most powerful Ariane 6 yet as it lofted into space 36 Amazon Leo satellites, the heaviest payload an Ariane has ever carried. The ESA Phi-Lab Ireland Open Call is now live, with up to €400,000 in equity-free funding and a webinar on 26 June. Two Irish photonics firms, Pilot Photonics and Mbryonics, are now working together. Plus jobs in Mbryonics alongside openings at ÉireComposites and ESA.

Ariane 6 flew its most powerful rocket yet on Wednesday, captured by Réaltra Space Systems Engineering’s VIKI onboard video system, made in Clonshaugh. It’s another visible contribution from Ireland's small but growing launch-systems sector.

Flight VA269, the first Ariane 64 with four P160C boosters, carried 36 Amazon Leo satellites in the heaviest payload an Ariane launcher has ever lifted. It brings the constellation to 100 satellites deployed across three missions in five months.

The live images of the whole show came from cameras designed and built by Réaltra. The company has supplied its VIKI video telemetry system - six onboard HD cameras - since the rocket's maiden flight in July 2024. It also built GEKI, a satellite-navigation telemetry system that provides the launcher's positioning, velocity and timing data.

The P160C shows how Ariane work is shared across the continent: developed by Europropulsion under contract to ArianeGroup and Avio, with its structure made in Italy, the engine nozzle in France, the igniter in Norway, and final fuelling in French Guiana.

"We are setting records with an increasingly powerful and versatile launcher," said David Cavailloles, the CEO of Arianespace.

ESA works with an industrial network across 13 European countries on the rocket, with France's space agency CNES handling launch safety and tracking at the spaceport, and Arianespace serving as launch provider.

Europe's most powerful Ariane 6 yet. Booster separation comes at 2.50, filmed by the onboard cameras Réaltra builds in Dublin. (Video: ESA)

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DCU-based laser company Pilot Photonics has integrated its tunable lasers into Mbryonics' terabit-class optical transceivers - high-speed, low-power links satellites need to move data between each other and to the ground.

Mbryonics CTO David Mackey said Pilot's laser engines complement the Galway firm's optical communication architecture for next-generation satellite connectivity.

“We are delighted to support Mbryonics in advancing next-generation space communications. We are proud that our engagement is highlighting Ireland’s growing space technology sector,” said Frank Smyth, CTO of Pilot, which recently secured a €1 million contract from ESA.

The tie-up underlines a point made recently by pan-European trade magazine Electro Optics, which named both companies as drivers of Ireland's growing strength in space photonics, an area where the expertise to build these links exists in only a few places worldwide.

With radio spectrum becoming increasingly crowded as constellations scale, inter-satellite and ground links are becoming a bottleneck.

"Scrubs are part of rocket industry; every successful rocket company has been here" - Daniel Metzler, CEO and co-founder, Isar Aerospace, in a company statement after the launch of its Spectrum rocket from Andoya spaceport in Norway was stood down.

"They're very reliable on their manifest dates... very reliable and safe on their insertions in orbit" - Amazon’s Steven Metayer, VP of Production Operations, on why the company favours Europe’s Arianespace as a launch partner after the latest successful flight.

🚀 The SPEAR Centre (a PEACEPLUS project) is running free lunchtime roadshows across the border region, opening up fully funded innovation supports in photonics, AI and emerging tech — no prior technical knowledge needed. Researchers from ATU WiSAR, Ulster University and Tyndall National Institute are on hand.

Still to come:

AAC Clyde Space - €10.9m for maritime-tracking satellites
The Scottish satellite maker has signed a €10.9m contract with ESA, co-funded by the UK Space Agency, to build and demonstrate a 12-satellite constellation that tracks ships at sea. The INFLECION system is designed to spot "dark vessels" - ships that switch off their identification transponders to avoid detection. AAC Clyde Space is a familiar name in Irish space circles: it supplied the platform for UCD's EIRSAT-1, Ireland's first satellite.

Global space investment hit a record $7.95bn in Q1 2026. That’s nearly double the previous quarter, pushing the rolling 12-month total to an all-time high of $18.8bn, according to Seraphim Space. The jump came from bigger cheques rather than more deals - average deal size rose to $68m - with Seraphim pointing to defence spending, lunar programmes and anticipation of a possible SpaceX IPO.

ArianeGroup and Air Liquide - renewed supply deal
The two French firms renewed their long-standing industrial partnership on 11 June with two new Ariane 6 contracts, covering the liquid hydrogen and oxygen that fuel the rocket's upper stage. A sign that production of the Ariane 6 - the rocket carrying Réaltra's flight hardware - is secure.

PICTURE: Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket remains stalled on the launch pad at Norway's Andoya Spaceport, after the latest attempt to launch was scrubbed minutes before liftoff earlier this week.

Next week: more funding, contracts, and careers in Ireland's space economy - delivered weekly.

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