The European Commission has pushed the deadline for the SALTO reusable launcher project to December 31, 2026. This extension provides the program with an additional three months to finalize the initial hop test for the Themis reusable rocket demonstrator. The project, originally scheduled for completion in November 2025, has faced multiple delays.
Led by ArianeGroup, the SALTO initiative is a research project backed by €42.8 million in EU funding. It operates in conjunction with the ESA-managed Themis program. The project aims to demonstrate the full cycle of launching, recovering, and relaunching the vehicle through two low-altitude hop tests.
The Themis demonstrator arrived at the Esrange facility on June 27, 2025. A wet dress rehearsal using liquid nitrogen was completed on July 23 to simulate cryogenic conditions. The next planned milestone for the vehicle is a hot-fire test of its single Prometheus engine, which precedes the upcoming hop flight.
