Jon Reijneveld

Co-Founder and Chief Engineer at The Exploration Company

Abstract
Following NASA’s successful commercial cargo and crew programs, Europe has started a similar LEO Cargo Return Service program last year. The Exploration Company (TEC) is taking up this challenge with their Nyx vehicle. Jon Reijneveld co-founded TEC in 2021 and is as Chief Engineer responsible for their capsule programs. He will describe how they are implementing System Engineering inside this New Space Start-Up, where speed needs to be balanced with rigorous verification and validation to assure a reliable cargo delivery system.

Bio Jon Reijneveld
Jon Reijneveld is the Co-Founder and Chief Engineer at The Exploration Company (TEC), where he leads the engineering team in designing, developing, and operating innovative space capsules. With a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Jon has specialized in space systems engineering.

Jon’s career began at Airbus in Munich, where he worked on the European Data Relay System, managing the software for the control of the space and ground segment. He later joined the Orion Service Module (SM) team at Airbus Bremen as Deputy Chief Engineer, playing a crucial role in the qualification of the first module and leading the launch preparation campaign for Artemis I at Cape Canaveral.

Driven by a passion for advancing the space ecosystem in Europe, Jon co-founded TEC. Under his leadership, the engineering team at TEC implements practical systems engineering practices to rapidly produce innovative designs. TEC successfully launched its second capsule in June 2025 and is now working on its third capsule Nyx, with a planned demonstration flight to the ISS in 2028.