Iterative Engineering, Wolności 191/913, Zabrze (2026)

02/04/2026

It’s not just the U.S. – Europe is flying around the Moon too.

Artemis II is a historic flight around the Moon, but it also serves as a reminder of how much deep-space missions depend on reliable, well-integrated systems.

One of the most important of those systems is the European one.

The European Service Module (ESM) – provided by ESA and built by Airbus for Orion – is the part of the spacecraft that helps turn this mission from a launch into a true journey beyond Earth orbit.

And its role is not symbolic. On Artemis II, the key trans-lunar injection burn that sends Orion toward the Moon is performed using the ESM’s main engine.

That same module also provides the essentials that make the mission possible: propulsion, electrical power, thermal control, water, and breathable air for the crew.

Some of the numbers behind it are worth pausing on.

The ESM uses 33 engines of three different types: a main engine for major burns, eight auxiliary thrusters, and 24 smaller engines for attitude control. Its propulsion system carries thousands of liters of propellant, while its avionics rely on more than 11 kilometers of cabling to transmit commands and sensor data across the module.

Its thermal control system has to keep Orion operating through external temperatures ranging from roughly -75°C to +90°C. And for a mission of up to 20 days, it can supply water, oxygen, and nitrogen for four astronauts.

That is what makes Europe’s contribution to Artemis II so significant. The ESM is not just a supporting component, but one of the core systems essential for the crew’s journey to the Moon and back.

Congratulations to the teams at:
- European Space Agency - ESA,
- Airbus Defence and Space,
- NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
and all the partners involved in making this mission possible.

Image: © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2026

01/04/2026

When 1 Isn’t Equal to 1

Starting our series on April Fools’ Day feels oddly appropriate – because some of engineering’s strangest stories were very real.

Take Mars Climate Orbiter. The spacecraft launched on December 11, 1998, aboard a Delta II rocket as part of the Mars Surveyor ’98 program. It was meant to become something like the first interplanetary weather satellite for Mars, while also supporting communications for the Mars Polar Lander.

After about 9.5 months in flight, it reached its destination – and that was exactly when everything went off course. Literally.

Its trajectory was about 170 kilometers lower than planned because one of the ground-based computational modules generated data in imperial units, while the rest of the system interpreted it, according to specification, as metric. In other words, one part was using pound-force seconds, while another expected newton-seconds, and the laws of physics remain mercilessly literal about such things.

That is what makes this case so memorable. Nothing here sounds dramatic at first. No spectacular hardware failure. No cinematic breakdown. Just a mismatch in how one system expressed data and another understood it.

But in mission-critical systems, inconsistencies do not stay theoretical for long.

Mars Climate Orbiter remains one of those engineering stories that sounds almost too absurd to be real – until it reminds you what complex systems are like in practice. Precision is not bureaucracy. Consistency is not a formality. And “close enough” is often nowhere near enough.

That is one of the first lessons in engineering: if systems exchange data, they have to mean the same thing.

This is what a “small problem” looks like when it stops being small. Apollo 13’s damaged Service Module after the oxygen tank explosion.

Credit: NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The Apollo 13 image is used here as a visual metaphor for the broader theme of this series: in engineering, small problems rarely stay small.

31/03/2026

Europe’s return to heavy lift, a launcher built for both sovereign missions and major commercial deployments, and a key test of whether Europe can turn launch ambition into operational strength: meet Ariane 6.

Did you know Ariane 6 has already entered the phase that matters most – not just proving it can fly, but showing it can support the kind of missions Europe now needs from ArianeGroup, ARIANESPACE, European Space Agency - ESA, and CNES?

Developed by ArianeGroup as part of an ESA programme and launched by ARIANESPACE from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, Ariane 6 is central to Europe’s effort to strengthen autonomous access to space. And on 12 February 2026, Ariane 64 – its more powerful four-booster version – reached a major milestone by successfully launching 32 Amazon Leo satellites.

Today, we continue our journey across Europe’s launch landscape. Spaceports are still part of the story – but this time, the spotlight shifts to the launcher designed to carry Europe’s ambitions on a heavier scale.

Ariane 6 Fast Facts:
- Developed by ArianeGroup within an ESA (European Space Agency) programme.
- Commercial launch services are provided by ARIANESPACE.
- Europe’s Spaceport launch infrastructure in French Guiana is operated by CNES.
- Available in two versions: Ariane 62 and Ariane 64.
- Ariane 64 can deliver about 21.6 tonnes to LEO or 11.5 tonnes to GTO.
- Its upper stage is designed for flexibility, including multiple ignitions for more complex missions.

The Current Context:
- On March 25, 2026, ArianeGroup confirmed the next Ariane 6 mission for April 28, 2026: another Ariane 64 launch carrying 32 Amazon Leo satellites.
- On March 23, 2026, ARIANESPACE announced a contract with Katalyst Space Technologies to launch the NEXUS-1 spacecraft aboard Ariane 6 in the second half of 2027.
- On March 12, 2026, ArianeGroup and Airbus Defence and Space signed a supply contract covering 27 shipsets for Ariane 6’s operational phase.
- The first successful Ariane 64 mission in February marked an important step in moving Ariane 6 from milestone flights toward more regular operational use.
- Ariane 6 is also reinforcing its role in Europe’s institutional launch ecosystem, including missions tied to Galileo.

We’ve also published a practical guide to Europe’s new spaceports on our blog – covering the launch sites, infrastructure, and broader access-to-space ecosystem that launchers like Ariane 6 depend on. Link in the comments below.

Image credit: ESA–M. Pedoussaut

24/03/2026

From Field to Portfolio to Company: Measuring Performance in Oil and Gas

Recent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have once again highlighted how sensitive the oil and gas market is to supply disruptions. Prices have risen and volatility has increased, reminding companies how quickly market conditions can change. In this environment, having a clear understanding of where value is created within the business becomes particularly important.

In oil and gas, performance measurement and analysis is most effective when viewed across three levels.

1. Field level
This is where operational reality begins. Using lease operating statements and field economics, we can assess production performance, lease operating expense (LOE) per boe, downtime, water handling costs, reliability, and field netback. This shows whether an asset is truly operating efficiently and generating cash.

For example, a field superintendent reviewing monthly LOE per boe trends may notice a sudden spike caused by higher chemical costs on a single well. Without that field-level visibility, the increase could easily be lost in a consolidated report.

A field can look efficient but still destroy value in the broader portfolio.

2. Portfolio level
A profitable asset is not always the highest-returning use of capital. At the portfolio level, assets should be compared against one another on netbacks, capital efficiency, NPV, IRR, recycle ratio, decline rates, sustaining capital, free cash flow, risk, reserve life, and upside potential. This is where real capital allocation decisions are made.

Portfolio analysis becomes especially powerful during periods of commodity price volatility.

A portfolio can appear resilient while still masking weak individual assets.

3. Company level
Strong assets do not automatically translate into strong corporate performance. At the company level, the focus shifts to ROCE, free cash flow, capital structure, reserve replacement, corporate breakeven, and overall value creation. This is where strategy, structure, and capital discipline become visible.

Companies often present headline production growth as evidence of strong performance. However, production growth funded by outspending cash flow, issuing equity, or weakening the balance sheet is not necessarily value-creating.

Performance should never be judged from a single dashboard.

At field level, we measure operating efficiency and margin.
At portfolio level, we compare assets and allocate capital.
At the company level, we test whether the whole system creates value.

Only when these three levels align do we get a true picture of performance.

At Iterative Engineering, we have experience developing solutions that connect fragmented systems and enable performance tracking across multiple levels of the business. Feel free to reach out if this is a topic of interest.

Photo: Burak The Weekender / Pexels

20/03/2026

Hedging in oil & gas: protection, strategy, opportunity?

In oil & gas, hedging is often treated strictly as downside protection. Lock in prices. Reduce volatility. Satisfy lenders. Secure new investment plans.

But hedging is not just risk management. It is a strategic decision.

A well-structured hedge program shapes: capital allocation, debt capacity (in reserve-based lending structures, hedges can materially increase borrowing capacity), development timing and investor confidence.

The real question the operators should ask is what risk are you optimizing for?
- Cash flow stability?
- Upside exposure?
- Covenant protection?
- Drilling economics and project certainty?

There are different tools that operators can utilize depending on the goals.

Swaps, collars (often structured as costless or 3-ways with three options involved), puts.

In a cyclical industry, you don’t control prices, but you can partially control your exposure to them. That’s where discipline becomes strategy.

Based on experience in the oil and gas industry and cooperation with different companies across the sector, it is worth considering pre-approved stretch targets in the market to enable opportunistic hedging.

That’s exactly what happened in the end of January 2026 when producers rushed to hedge amid exploding natural gas prices due to extremely cold weather events and the largest one-week rally since at least 1990. This is also what happens when geopolitical turmoil starts.

The most successful hedge programs follow a defined framework with target hedge ratios, price triggers, and governance rules, rather than reacting to market headlines.

An interesting fact: one of the largest commodity hedges in the world is executed not by an oil company but by the Mexican government, which every year hedges hundreds of millions of barrels of oil production. The program is known as the "Hacienda Hedge".

Iterative Engineering supports engineering industries by building bespoke software solutions that turn risk into structured, data-driven decisions.

Photo: Anthony Maw / Unsplash

18/03/2026

Europe wants more ways to reach orbit. One of the companies trying to make that happen is Isar Aerospace.

Just under a year ago, Spectrum lifted off from Andøya in Norway in what Isar described as the first orbital launch attempt from continental Europe. The flight lasted only about 30 seconds – but for a young launcher company, those seconds mattered. They brought real flight data, real lessons, and momentum for what comes next.

Now Isar is preparing its qualification flight, this time with payloads on board.

That makes this next step especially interesting. It is no longer only about proving that the rocket can fly. It is about moving closer to a real commercial launch service – one built in Europe, for European missions and customers.

A few things make the story worth watching:
• The next launch window opens no earlier than 19 March 2026
• This flight is expected to carry five CubeSats and one experiment
• Isar has expanded its testing capacity with a new site at Esrange in Sweden
• The company has also announced its first active debris removal mission with Astroscale
• Future missions are already lining up, including ESA’s ΣYNDEO-3 and a dedicated SEOPS mission.

Europe’s launch landscape is changing fast, and Isar is one of the companies helping shape what that future could look like.

We also published a broader guide to Europe’s new spaceports and the launcher ecosystem growing around them – link in the comments.

Which matters more for Europe right now: having more launch sites or having more launcher companies that can actually fly from them?

11/03/2026

What happens after a historic first flight?
For PLD Space, the answer is: build a real launch business.

In October 2023, the Spanish company made history when MIURA 1 became the first fully private European rocket to reach space. That flight was a milestone – but the bigger challenge starts now.

PLD Space is now working toward MIURA 5, a two-stage orbital launcher designed for small payloads, with first-stage recovery as part of the vision. And the company is not slowing down:

* €180 million Series C announced on March 4, 2026
* Mitsubishi Electric joined the round and secured priority access to MIURA 5
* First commercial MIURA 5 contract signed with Sateliot
* First test flight still targeted for 2026
* Launch infrastructure in French Guiana remains part of the roadmap.

This is the kind of story that reveals a great deal about Europe’s launch sector right now: not just ambition, but the effort to convert momentum into long-term capability.

We’ve also published a broader guide to Europe’s new spaceports and launch ecosystem on our blog. You’ll find the link in the comments.

Which European launcher company are you watching most closely right now – PLD Space, Isar Aerospace, Skyrora, MaiaSpace, or someone else?

Image credit: PLD Space

03/03/2026

Not every spaceport starts from scratch.

Far above the Arctic Circle, Esrange has spent decades doing the quiet, demanding work of space operations – launching sounding rockets, flying stratospheric balloons, testing engines, and supporting satellites through one of the world’s largest civilian ground stations.

Now, that long-built experience is turning into something bigger: orbital ambition.

Operating since 1966, Esrange in northern Sweden has already passed 600+ sounding rocket launches and 690+ stratospheric balloon missions. But what makes it especially interesting today is that it is not just a legacy site – it is actively preparing for its next chapter.

In recent weeks:
• SSC announced that the new Orbital Launch Control Center is ready
• Isar Aerospace opened a second test site at Esrange
• SSC reiterated that Firefly Aerospace is preparing for future orbital launches there
• REXUS 35 and 36 are already on the March schedule

Esrange shows that a spaceport can be much more than a launch pad. It can be an entire operational ecosystem – one built over decades, now moving toward small satellite launches to polar orbits.

We mapped the wider landscape of Europe’s spaceports in one guide on the Iterative Engineering blog – link in the first comment.

Which European spaceport should we cover next?

Photo: SSC Space & ArianeGroup. Map: Datawrapper. © OpenStreetMap contributors.

19/02/2026

Europe can’t build a real network of new spaceports without one thing: clean, safe launch corridors.

That’s why SaxaVord Spaceport, on Unst in the Shetland Islands, stands out. High latitude. The open sea acts as a natural safety buffer. And a mission profile tailored to small satellites heading to polar and sun-synchronous orbits (SSO).

In our “A Tour of Europe’s Spaceports” series, today’s stop is SaxaVord (Unst).

What surprised us most is the scale. In their January 2026 briefing, SaxaVord says they already have one fully built launchpad, with two more under construction or preparation. The long-term goal: five pads and up to 30 launches per year by 2030.

A few details that matter (and often get skipped in “spaceport deck” summaries):

* Northern corridor advantage: direct trajectories over the sea (often described as 330°–030° true North).
* Beyond launch day: growing ground-station footprint + LEOP support (launch + early operations + downlink), including hosting third-party ground stations.

And then there’s a detail I honestly love: “Fredo the Unstronaut.”
A playful outreach character with collectible mission patches, used in education content to make “space careers” feel real for kids – and to help build a long-term local talent pipeline.

What’s happening right now:

* Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) says the SaxaVord launch infrastructure is nearing completion (pad + 52 m tower in place; remaining work includes water tanks to mitigate test effects).
* Ops are being wired up too: MCC + RCC ~5 km from the pad, plus a hangar for assembly/integration/testing and cleanroom space for payload handling.
* Demand is getting tangible: ESA and the European Commission confirmed two missions (Flight Ticket Initiative) to launch from SaxaVord on RFA One.

We mapped the full landscape of Europe’s spaceports in one guide – link in the first comment.

Which spaceport should we tour next? Drop a comment.

Photo: RFA – SaxaVord Spaceport (Unst, Shetland Islands), launch pad infrastructure.

17/02/2026

Payload Preparations: the part of spaceflight you never see

Before a satellite becomes a headline, it has to survive a world of quiet, high-stakes precision.

Imagine a “door” the size of a small industrial hall. Sealed transfers through controlled zones. Tight access windows. Constant monitoring. And a simple rule: “almost ready” isn’t an option.

At the Guiana Space Centre, this hidden work is what protects the mission long before the rocket ever leaves the pad.

We’ve seen parts of this world up close – through campaign-operations project work and a visit to Kourou – and we wrote a story that breaks it down in plain language.

Find the link to the full article in the first comment.
If you could ask one question about “what happens before launch,” what would it be?

Credit: CNES/ESA/Arianespace-ArianeGroup/Optique Vidéo CSG/S. Martin (2025)

12/02/2026

Imagine a rocket countdown… in the rainforest.

Europe’s main gateway to orbit isn’t in Europe at all – it’s Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG), near Kourou in French Guiana, just ~5° north of the equator. That geography matters: every kilogram of “free” orbital boost counts.

And today, that system behind the liftoff is back in the spotlight.

Mission VA267: the first-ever Arianespace flight of Ariane 64 (the four-booster configuration of Ariane 6), carrying 32 Amazon Leo satellites – part of Amazon’s LEO broadband constellation (also known as Project Kuiper).

Launch window (local time in Kourou): 13:45–14:13
(That’s 17:45–18:13 CET for Paris/Warsaw.)

What stands out about CSG is that the “headline moment” (ignition) sits on top of a massive layer of invisible work: range safety, tracking, air/sea coordination, procedures, people, discipline – the stuff that makes launches repeatable, not just spectacular.

If you want the full landscape, we published a complete guide to Europe’s spaceports – we’ll drop the link in the first comment

Question for you: which European spaceport do you think will become the next “after CSG” in strategic importance – and why?

Credits: Photo: Paweł Grzywocz. Map created with Datawrapper. © OpenStreetMap contributors.

04/02/2026

A tiny Atlantic island might host Europe’s next launch headlines.

Have you ever heard of Santa Maria in the Azores? It’s remote, beautiful – and increasingly important on Europe’s launch map.

In January 2026, Atlantic Spaceport Consortium (ASC) announced a multi-year agreement with South Korea’s INNOSPACE, giving long-term, priority access to Malbusca Launch Centre as INNOSPACE’s European launch base for the HANBIT family of launch vehicles. The ambition: a first European commercial launch in Q4 2026, with a longer path toward orbital operations as the site matures.

What makes this spaceport story different is the strategy:

* Portugal’s first spaceport operator licence is already in place (operator licence ≠ mission licence)
* An open spaceport model, built to support multiple operators and mission types
* Island-based safety corridors and practical logistics designed to turn agreements into repeatable missions.

And there’s a Polish connection, too: ASC has a contract with SpaceForest for a suborbital PERUN mission, targeting Spring / H1 2026.

We’re continuing our Tour of Europe’s Spaceports – from the Arctic north to the mid-Atlantic – because Europe’s launch landscape is expanding beyond the “classic” sites in fascinating ways.

Want the full overview? We’ve published a comprehensive guide to all European spaceports on our blog – link in the comments.
Which European spaceport should we cover next?

Credits: Photo: ASC/Pedro Roque. Map created with Datawrapper. © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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