European Space Resources Innovation Centre

The European Space Resources Innovation Centre, known as ESRIC, is an innovation centre in Luxembourg that focuses on space resources. It describes itself as the first centre of this kind in the world. It works to make the responsible use of resources in space real, from finding them to using them at scale.

ESRIC was launched in 2020. It is a joint initiative of the Luxembourg Space Agency and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, in strategic partnership with the European Space Agency. It works with space agencies, industry and start-ups to turn research into practical results. These include mission-ready technologies, useful data and ground-based services. It also brings partners together to take ideas from the lab to real demonstrations on the Moon.

Research is a main pillar. ESRIC supports the space resources sector with industry-relevant research and development. It trains the next generation of space resources innovators and builds pathways to put results into use. The company lists research facilities, including a Dusty Thermal Vacuum Chamber.

Commercialisation is the second pillar. ESRIC says it runs the only start-up support programme in the world that is entirely about space resources. It also has a business incubator and an industry accelerator. It helps move technology between space and non-space industries and encourages public-private partnerships. In its latest news, ESRIC named seven selected projects for the first phase of the sixth batch of its start-up programme. Two earlier graduates of the fourth batch, Neamine from France and Tumi Robotics from Peru, took a step toward lunar exploration.

The third pillar is community and knowledge sharing. ESRIC connects people and businesses and gives the space resources community an open place to swap ideas. It publishes podcasts and a newsletter. It also runs an ESA and ESRIC challenge and takes part in Space Resources Week, an event it organised with the European Space Agency, which ran online in 2021.

Services

• Space resources research
• Start-up support programme
• Business incubator
• Industry accelerator
• Dusty Thermal Vacuum Chamber testing
• Technology transfer
• Training for space resources innovators
• Space Resources Week
• Podcasts and newsletter