The Portuguese National Space Authority (ANACOM) has issued the first license in Europe for the performance of a controlled commercial spacecraft re-entry from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to European territory under national jurisdiction.
The Azores Spaceport, located on the small island of Santa Maria, a mid-Atlantic archipelago of Portugal, is run by the Atlantic Spaceport Consortium (ASC), a joint venture between two Portuguese private firms, OPTIMAL Structural Solutions and Ilex Space.
In August 2025, the Azores Spaceport received a five-year operating license from the Portuguese government, enabling it to perform space launches.
This time, however, the authorization has been granted for the re-entry phase of space missions.
In particular, the beneficiary of this one-time license will be ATMOS Space Cargo (ATMOS), a German company which develops small, reusable space capsules able to carry cargo into orbit and bring it back to Earth, after having performed experiments or other activities in space.
ATMOS is preparing for the launch in H1 2026 of Mission PHOENIX 2.1, at a date in time yet to be confirmed and which will depend on the operational conditions.
PHOENIX 2.1 is a reusable orbital transfer and return vehicle which will use the Azores Spaceport as both its launch and recovery point.
The PHOENIX 2.1 space vehicle uses a technology called Inflatable Atmospheric Decelerator (IAD) in order to return to Earth. This innovative system consists of a balloon-like structure that deploys, not unlike a parachute or an airbag, upon atmospheric re-entry, acting both as a shield that dissipates heat and as an aerodynamic brake to slow down the descent.
One of the major selling points of the Azores Spaceport is the relatively remote location of the island of Santa Maria – the southern-most of the Azores, removed from any major commercial air or sea lanes. This geographical location affords space operators more room to perform the launch and, from now, also re-entry of their space vehicles, while remaining under European jurisdiction.
