Mission Possible was The Exploration Company’s second demonstrator mission, aiming to prove-out avionics, thermal protection, propulsion, GNC, flight software, and other technologies for the subsequent larger-scale Nyx-Earth.
I arrived at TEC just as hardware was starting to arrive in Munich, and had the opportunity to contribute to a variety of activities from thruster thermal analysis to avionics TVAC testing. This culminated in the thermal qualification of the spacecraft at Airbus facilities in Toulouse, France.
The capsule launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg on 23 June 2025. The mission involved separation from the upper stage, operation of 25 customer payloads (~300 kg) in-orbit, and execution of a controlled de-orbit and guided atmospheric re-entry from ~550 km. Communications reappeared after the re-entry blackout, although they were lost again around 26 km altitude, shortly before the planned drogue/main parachute sequence and ocean recovery.
More details about the mission can be found here:
The Five Phases of Mission PossibleMission Possible: Re-Entry Milestone Achieved for Europe’s Reusable Spaceflight
