The European Space Agency (ESA) has been trying to advance its space programs for months with numerous projects. Most recently, in July, the Ariane 6 rockets made history with their successful launch from French Guiana. In its desire to challenge SpaceX, ESA was looking for a company capable of developing a high-thrust engine to power its reusable rockets. A to start up Spanish was chosen from all the candidates.
We are talking about Pangea Aerospace, a to start up located in Barcelona that has been selected by ESA for the development of what will be called the future European “very high thrust” engine. The idea behind this choice is that Pangea can design a high-power engine for future European launchers and “define its economic model based on a public-private agreement for its development.”
What ESA means by choosing Pangea is the development of an engine which has a force of 2 meganewtons, intended to propel rockets with reusable capacity and capable of having different types of payloads, such as satellites for megaconstellations (like Starlink) or manned ships. An announcement that comes shortly after the historic Polaris Dawn ride carried out by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
ESA sets its sights on a to start up Spanish
The European Space Agency and Pangea Aerospace itself emphasize the need for this engine to meet the increasingly demanding needs of modern space launch systems, ranging from manned spaceflight to space exploration beyond the limits of Earth’s orbit. An engine capable of generating about 250 tons of thrust for its rockets.
The engine in question already has a name: Kronos. The aerospace company hopes that the engine’s design will be useful for use in a variety of launch vehicles, always prioritizing “adaptability, cost, reusability, and performance.” So much so that Pangea hopes to design Kronos so that it can be attached to boosters and even higher stages if necessary.
ARCOS engine test
Pangea will be the lead company in a consortium of industrial partners located in Europe that will support the development of Kronos. These companies include Safran and Sabca, Apco technologies, Spacedreams or Latitude. For example, Safran and Sabca will provide propulsion subsystem technologies, and Latitude will serve as a launch service provider. Each signature It will focus on a specific area of the project.
Of course, everything will be done according to the appropriate procedures. Pangea Aerospace took advantage of the announcement of its election to assure that it will carry out an exhaustive market analysis “in order to identify the current and future needs” of the industry and thus promote the development of Kronos and its final design, so that it meets ESA’s space needs.
This will be the first phase before the engine design begins to be developed, with the aim that this design is fully consolidated. Furthermore, Pangea specifies that the initial basis envisages the staged combustion cycle (closed cycle), essential for the proper compliance with the thrust density requirements of super-heavy vehicles.
According to Pangea, in the Kronos design project, “subsystems will be identified and risk mitigation activities will be planned to achieve technical maturity in key areas, such as engine cycle type, advanced manufacturing or nozzle.” But why did they choose Pangea Aerospace for this very important task?
P1 demo engine after performing the ignition test
The truth is that the to start up Barcelona already has several achievements in its career, such as the development of the aerospike engine, a unique engine in the world with 3D metal printing that runs on methane. and it can be used more than 10 times. This engine was established as the first reusable aerospike engine in history using sustainable propellants. In fact, in 2023, they successfully ignited a bi-material combustion chamber in Europe as part of the development of their Arcos Aerospike engine.
