ISPTech Secures €5.5M for In-Orbit Mobility
Italian startup ISPTech secured €5.5M ($5.9M) in seed funding to advance its in-orbit mobility and servicing technologies. The investment highlights a growing focus on building the necessary infrastructure in space to support and maintain satellite constellations that power services like geospatial data delivery.
The seed round was led by Join Capital, with significant participation from High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Faber, and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), among others. The funding is earmarked for expanding manufacturing capabilities and building new testing infrastructure to meet growing commercial demand. ISPTech, a 2023 spin-off from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), was founded by former DLR engineers Lukas Werling and Felix Lauck. Their technology, based on over a decade of DLR research, aims to replace highly toxic and expensive conventional propellants like hydrazine with greener, more cost-effective alternatives. The company has developed two main propulsion systems: HyNOx for smaller satellites and HIP_11 for larger spacecraft. HyNOx uses a bipropellant of ethane and nitrous oxide, while HIP_11 uses a combination of hydrogen peroxide and an ionic liquid fuel, offering a higher density than traditional hydrazine. These non-toxic fuels simplify and speed up the building and testing of satellites. This technology is critical for the rapidly growing on-orbit servicing market, which is projected to reach approximately $4 billion by 2030. Services such as satellite repositioning, collision avoidance, and de-orbiting are becoming essential as low-Earth orbit gets increasingly congested. ISPTech has already secured contracts with satellite manufacturers, including Atmos Space Cargo. The company is preparing for two customer missions and anticipates its first propulsion system to launch with a small satellite in 2026.
