PORTRAIT – The mathematician, space specialist and entrepreneur Hélène Huby wants to democratize space exploration. Portrait of an adventurer who has nothing to envy Elon Musk and his Space X project.
With one foot in Germany and the other in Bordeaux, she works on planes and taxis, holding numerous telephone conferences in English and French with journalists, investors and team leaders. Since 2021, Hélène Huby has been CEO of The Exploration Company, a start-up specializing in space technologies, of which she is co-founder. It has set itself a mission: to democratize space exploration by making it affordable, sustainable and open – exactly that. If all goes well, it will launch its first capsule called Nyx in the spring of 2024 and thanks to the hard work of its teams bring, a prototype cargo transport vehicle, a competitor to SpaceX's Dragon, capable of resupplying future space by 2030 Stations built with private funding.
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An achievement that earned him the “Entrepreneur of the Year” award from EY in the start-up category in October 2023. “It is recognition for all the work we have done with the teams: in two years we have grown from 4 to 100 people. We are the space company that has raised the most money in Europe, €65 million, and won contracts worth over €150 million in difficult economic conditions. A sign of confidence for the future: We haven’t sent out our first ship yet!” the adventurer tells us.
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A new space age
Gone are the days when NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) or Roscomos (the Russian agency) were the only players in space. The new space age is now characterized by the rise of the private sector, led by Space ” underlines Magali Vaissière, Ambassador of France 2030 for the space aspect and President of the Saint-Exupéry Institute for Technological Research in Toulouse. “The industry is experiencing an unprecedented wave of innovation that extends to all application areas.”
Hélène Huby is very often compared to the billionaire Elon Musk: her company is so far the only one (for cargo) with SpaceX (for flights with passengers) chosen by the company Axiom Space for its ambition to open space to commercial flights became and remains. That’s where the similarities end… “It’s still a few years ahead of Europe,” she says modestly. When asked whether she always looked up at the sky, the entrepreneur replied in the negative: No, her thing, “that was quantum physics,” she smiles. Unlike the American billionaire, who completed his education alone and did not wear out the benches of the (public) universities where he was enrolled, she completed a true honorum degree and managed to obtain both a degree from the École Normale (Ulm, in Economics) as well as a degree in Applied Mathematics), Sciences Po Paris and the National School of Administration.
In everyday life I don't think about the fact that I'm a woman at all
Helene Huby
The young woman began her career at the Ministry of Research and Higher Education, but at Airbus she collided with space. She has successively served as Vice President of Space Strategy at Airbus Group, Program Director at ArianeGroup and Head of Innovation at Airbus Defense & Space. She then became Vice President of Orion-ESM at Airbus Defense & Space, where she oversees the delivery of the European module that will take humans to the Moon.
“Space gradually forced its way into my life,” she explains. It was chance and luck that made this meeting possible for me. I thought about staying at Airbus because I was one of the youngest female leaders, but I wondered where my work would have the most impact over the next twenty years. And for me, entrepreneurship was the best option: we can change the European space ecosystem from within,” she tells us. With a team of experienced specialists – formerly at Airbus and ArianeGroup – she co-founded The Exploration Company to develop, manufacture and operate spacecraft that meet the logistical requirements of space stations.
A symbolic moment
The start-up estimates that the market will grow by 400% in the next eight years. “Regardless of whether we seek exploration on the Moon or on Mars, it is the “how” that matters: if we succeed in returning to the Moon, it will not be a confrontational exploration like in the Cold War era, but a communal. Our interfaces are technically compatible with the Americans, the Chinese, we will shoot with the Indians, then with the Americans… Our team has about thirty nationalities.”
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Hélène Huby remembers with emotion the contract signed with Axiom Space in October. Bruno Lemaire then says that this signing “shows the ability of our European industry to respond to the space transport market, as well as the reality of Franco-German cooperation and its success on the international stage.” For Hélène Huby it is indeed symbolic: ” Axiom did not sign with SpaceX, Boeing or Sira Space, but with us, which was supported by the European Space Agency but remained a start-up offering a capsule developed with private funding.” In my opinion, this is an important moment in space research, which will continue to rely on international cooperation, but above all on public-private partnerships,” she believes.
No more “no man’s land”
In the world of technology and space investments, Hélène Huby is a pioneer. When the recruitment of astronaut Sophie Adenot was announced last spring, we realized that space is still a no-man's land for women. When ESA advertises applications, only 10% of applicants are women. Of the 560 astronauts who have ever flown, only about fifty are women. However, when we ask her whether she felt like she was breaking a glass ceiling when she set out to conquer space, Hélène Huby hits the nail on the head. “I don't think about it at all that I'm a woman on a daily basis… but it's true that women are sometimes less equipped than men to negotiate and deal with brutal moves in those negotiations without faith, nor law, underhanded .”
While she believed 98% of investors were men, the manager decided to hire a coach: “I told her, 'I want to learn to play poker so I can have the same cards in my game.' I wanted one Toolbox with which I can defend my projects while remaining true to my values.” The latter are in fact increasingly at the center of discussions – space exploration is costly for the environment… With its reusable capsule that runs on green fuel (a more expensive and risky fuel), Hélène Huby wants to achieve this. On the contrary, we are committed to a more responsible space future: “Many technologies developed for space – a terrible environment – have contributed a lot to this: for example, solar panels have been developed for Satellites invented.” We are increasingly trying to minimize the impact of human activities. There’s no reason why space shouldn’t be affected.”
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The entrepreneur, who has four children, recently hired a live cycle product engineer who will be responsible for maximizing equipment life and minimizing environmental impact. 2024 looks promising. With the French Space Agency and the University of the Federal Armed Forces, she founded SpaceFounders, a European accelerator for start-ups in the field of space technologies, of which she is a board member. Before he starts looking for an investor, the entrepreneur draws an optimistic conclusion: “We are successful with Airbus, we are successful with the euro, why shouldn't we be able to send our astronauts with our own tools?” We all need one Dream!”