SAN FRANCISCO – Spanish propulsion startup Arkadia Space announced a contract Feb. 11 to supply monopropellant thrusters to MaiaSpace, a French startup backed by ArianeGroup that is developing a reusable small launch vehicle.
Arkadia Space will supply 250-newton thrusters designed for the Reaction Control System of the MaiaSpace launcher.
“This contract highlights the trust that a company like MaiaSpace places in Arkadia to supply key components for its launcher,” Arkadia Space CEO Francho Garcia said in a statement. “Now, it’s time to prove our capabilities.”
The French space agency CNES is providing MaiaSpace access to a launch pad in French Guiana originally built for the Soyuz rocket. MaiaSpace announced plans in September to spend “several tens of millions of euros” to adapt the pad for use by its vehicle for launches starting in 2026.
MaiaSpace CEO Yohann Leroy said in a statement that the company was confident that Arkadia Space would “deliver on time and cost key components to equip the first European reusable and eco-responsible mini-launcher.”
Arkadia Space, founded in 2020 in Castellón, Spain, develops hydrogen peroxide-based propellant systems for satellites and platforms with a mass of more than 50 kilograms.
“The hydrogen peroxide-based propellant offers exceptional performance while significantly reducing cost and environmental impact compared to traditional hydrazine-based Reaction Control Systems,” according to the news release.
The first on-orbit testing of an Arkadia Space propulsion system is scheduled to launch in March on a D-Orbit ION Satellite on a SpaceX Transporter 13 rideshare.
Arkadia Space developed the 250-newton thrusters with funding from the European Space Agency Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey program.
ArkadiaSpace raised $3 million in a 2023 seed funding round.
