Stellar Alpina Secures €160K for Space Propulsion

In-space propulsion is becoming more important as orbit gets busier.

What happened

Zurich-based Stellar Alpina secured €160K from Venture Kick to advance compact rotating detonation rocket engines for in-space propulsion. The funding will support testing infrastructure, further hotfire campaigns and development toward a first flight engine.

The cheque is small, but the technical focus is relevant to the growing space-infrastructure stack.

Why it matters

More satellites and orbital missions increase the need for spacecraft to manoeuvre, reposition, avoid debris and perform orbital transfers. Launch gets payloads into space, but propulsion determines what they can do once they are there.

More efficient in-space engines could improve mission flexibility and reduce constraints on satellite operators.

The bigger picture

SpaceTech is splitting into specialised infrastructure layers: launch, servicing, communications, data, power and propulsion. Stellar Alpina is early, but it sits in one of the technical layers that could matter more as commercial activity in orbit increases.