To develop its green propulsion for small launchers, Pangea Aerospace sets up in Toulouse
For the past few weeks, the Toulouse space ecosystem has welcomed a new member. Founded in 2018 near Barcelona (Spain), Pangea Aerospace has just taken up residence in Toulouse, within the B612, located south of the city. For the moment, a handful of employees (five) are in Toulouse out of the quarantine in total that Pangea Aerospace counts. “But a dozen positions are currently to be filled with us, including some in Toulouse“, specifies Marie Laure Gouzy, the new manager of the startup’s activities in France.
“I am from Barcelona, so it understands me at heart to found my company there. In addition, there is a favorable ecosystem for startups in this city. From now on, our desire was to get closer to the space ecosystem. and potential partners, by coming to France and Toulouse was naturally selected”, justify Adrià Argemi.
In addition, the CEO and co-founder of Pangea Aerospace directed part of his studies in Toulouse, within Isae-Supaero, before working for Airbus on aeronautical propulsion. “Propulsion is my passion“, he confides. Unsurprisingly, therefore, the propulsion of launchers is thus the playground of the young shoot. Good news for Toulouse, therefore, which until now has not provided for any player in space propulsion on its territory. It is also an aspect that pleased the management of Pangea Aerospace, even going so far as to mention “an opportunity“.
Reusable
The young company continues to develop its technology in Toulouse”unique in the world” in the words of Adrià Argemí. She passed the first test fire of a rocket engine apalm erospike 2021. “This technology was studied for a long time by others, but it never became concrete because it was too expensive and too complicated to manufacture.“, says the CEO. By focusing on this technology, the entrepreneur wants to refresh ideas in the field of space or even shake it up by his own admission.
Thanks to the economic upheaval experienced by the sector with the logic of New Space and the democratization of 3D printing (its propulsion system is totally manufactured using additive manufacturing), Pangea Aerospace has won its bet. In addition, its propulsion system will be reusable ten times, will consume less propellant and above all, it will run on biomethane. “We will carry out fire tests with biomethane in Germany in 2023” announces Adrià Argemí.
For the moment, the ambition of Pangea Aerospace is to reach a propulsion force of 10 tons. This new rocket engine will thus be intended for micro-launchers, initially. But the Cnes commissioned a development study from the startup to adapt its technology to a propulsion force of 100 tonnes, in other words large launchers.
Fundraising
However, the Barcelona startup does not intend to place itself as a competitor of Ariane. “We don’t want to operate the launches. We want to position ourselves as a supplier by focusing on hardware“, assures the CEO, who promises faster production rates than what is currently done in Europe. Pangea Aerospace thus intends to focus on the development and marketing of its propulsion system and possibly the boosters. European players and outside Europe have already made several letters of intent for a few dozen aerospike propulsion systems.
“We will complete the development for the end of 2024. But we are looking for private investors to complete the project. So far, we have raised 8.5 million. It is difficult to find financing in Europe”, regrets the co-founder.
Nevertheless, Pangea Aerospace, which is aiming for a million euros in turnover in 2022, intends to remain European by opening sites in territories with the skills necessary for its development. Toulouse will therefore not be the only branch of the startup in the long term.