May 20, 2026 Astron demonstrates second generation additively manufactured reusable rocket engine torch igniter Astron has successfully demonstrated over 100 repeated and long duration firings of their second generation reusable rocket engine torch igniter, ready for integration in their upcoming rocket engine prototype. Read more
May 10, 2026 Astron helps lunar lander company Instinct Space with rocket engine tests Astron's test site has been busy, helping YC backed lunar lander company Instinct Space with testing of their Dodo-α HTP-Kerosene bipropellant rocket engine. Read more
April 06, 2026 Astron closes a new investment round to demonstrate rocket propulsion technology Astron closed another round of investment! This time with participation from Angel Invest Ventures, Tiny VC, Deep Quest Capital, and a number of individual angel investors well known for supporting space, deep tech, and defence in Europe. Read more
youtube.com March 31, 2026 Fully reusable rockets and why the UK could become a major player in orbital launch On this episode of Basis Points Harriet sits down with Eddie Brown, co-founder and CEO of Astron Systems, to discuss the future of the British space industry, fully reusable rockets, small satellite launch, defense applications, climate monitoring, and why the UK could become a major player in orbital launch again. Read more
March 30, 2026 Astron kicks off ESA funded contract to demonstrate second generation hybrid electric turbopump Astron has kicked off a project with ESA to build and demonstrate their second generation hybrid electric turbopump for multi-reuse small rocket engines. Read more
December 11, 2025 Astron wins prestigious Institute of Physics Award Astron has been awarded a prestigious Institute of Physics Business Start-up Award for work on long lifetime turbomachines for multi-reuse small rocket engines that enable cost effective fully reusable small launch rockets. Read more
November 27, 2025 Astron To Launch Helogen Biolab Satellites Astron announces Helogen as a customer and announces agreement for 3 missions to launch biolabs into space onboard Astron’s 100% reusable small rocket Read more
payloadspace.com October 17, 2025 Astron Systems' Launches Are Booked Through to Early 2030 If you want to launch from Europe, be prepared to queue for a while. With the exception of a few hundred kilos of payload space remaining on the company’s planned flights, Astron's manifest is booked through to early 2030—despite being years away from building its first rocket. Read more
October 14, 2025 Shield Space And Astron Team Up For Space Defence Capability, Present at NATO RSM Shield Space and Astron announce agreements for the first launches of Shield’s Orbital Sentinel spacecraft and the intention to provide responsive 72-hour orbital tasking from the UK, and jointly present at the NATO RSM (Research Specialists’ Meeting) meeting on dual-use space technologies in Bath. Read more
September 22, 2025 Bristol students test their rocket engine with Astron Astron Systems hosted students from Bristol University's Hypower rocketry team at their test site on Westcott Venture Park last week to test the Bristol team's SRAD liquid bipropellant rocket engine designed for the upcoming EuRoC student rocketry competition. It's a nitrogen pressurised nitrous and IPA 5kN class engine designed to launch their SRAD rocket at EuRoc. Read more
July 18, 2025 Video unveiled of Astron's 100% reusable small rocket UK rocket company Astron Systems has released a video showcasing their 100% reusable rocket “Aurora” for small payloads. With Aurora, Astron Systems are aiming to lead the way globally in bringing 100% rocket reusability to small lift launch, with the goal of unlocking a step change improvement in the cost, speed, and flexibility of services for small payload orbital launch and return. The Aurora rocket is a two stage vertically launched vehicle designed for the orbital launch and return of small payloads. Read more
July 01, 2025 Race 2 Space students hosted on Astron's test site We helped out with hosting students for the UK's Race 2 Space 2025 competition at C-Site, our propulsion test facility. Race 2 Space is a national competition founded to boost practical skills and diversity among graduates entering the UK space sector. Over a two-week period, more than 300 students from 32 universities will have travelled to the Westcott Space Cluster and fired their rocket engines. Read more
June 16, 2025 Spiral Blue sign launch agreements with Astron Systems We're excited to share that we've signed a first batch of 3 launches with Australian company Spiral Blue to help deploy their lidar technology into space. We love what they're building and what they've achieved already with their space edge computing technology currently in orbit and look forward to this first batch of launches with them from 2029. Read more
May 20, 2025 Coaxial swirl injector element first tests We performed first low cost and low pressure tests of our coaxial swirl injector element designs to further validate proper propellants mixing prior to fabrication of our full thrust chamber. The results matched the simulated expectations. Read more
March 12, 2025 Astron completes ESA funded contract studying hybrid expander electric cycle rocket engines Astron Systems completes an ESA funded contract studying hybrid expander electric cycle rocket engines. The design work was funded through ESA's GSTP (General Support Technology Program) to support the development of hybrid expander electric cycle rocket engines to unlock next-level reusability and lifetime within this size class of engine. Read more
March 05, 2025 Prototype torch igniter liquid feed ignition demonstrated We successfully demonstrated ignition of our first prototype torch igniter running with cryogenic liquid methane and liquid oxygen. Special thanks to Airborne Engineering Ltd and Buckinghamshire council for their support using Airborne's test stand on Westcott Venture Park. Read more
January 23, 2025 Industry titan Gregory Krauland becomes advisor to Astron Systems Gregory Krauland helped turn into reality some of the most exciting aerospace projects in recent history. He led the design and development of Falcon 9's upper stage at SpaceX, worked as Chief Engineer at Boom Supersonic for the XB-1 vehicle, and worked on SpaceShipTwo at Scaled Composites.
December 12, 2024 Astron graduates from prestigious Techstars Space accelerator That's a wrap on the Techstars Space Accelerator 2024! It's been an amazing 3 month program, culminating in the demo day at Google LA last Thursday! Momentum is definitely building, and we're excited for the months ahead and continuing to lead the way in bringing real commercially competitve launch for small payloads to Europe and beyond! Read more
October 10, 2024 Prototype torch igniter performs well with gaseous testing We're excited to share some footage of gaseous testing of our first reusable rocket engine torch igniter prototype. This is a part of our highly reusable rocket engine in development, which in turn is a key technology within our fully reusable Aurora launch vehicle. The data from this testing is valuable for validating simulations and demonstrating survivability. We've run this igniter for multiple full flight duration burns, and it has been ignited cumulatively for over 2 hours demonstrating long expected lifetime. Read more
September 25, 2024 Astron presents at the UK's Cryogenic Electric Propulsion Systems seminar Rafal presented at the UK Magnetics Society's Cryogenic Electric Propulsion Systems seminar on Astron's innovative work designing, building, and testing high power non-superconducting cryogenic electric machines to power rocket engines. Read more
techstars.com September 09, 2024 Astron invested in by leading investor Techstars Space Astron receives investment from the prestigious Techstars Space and admission into their accelerator ran in partnership with the US Space Force and NASA JPL. They are the only European space company selected this year. Read more
June 07, 2024 Prototype new hybrid electric turbopump tested pumping cryogenic propellant Whilst combustion chamber and thrust chamber tests often catch people's eye, they are far from the most complex parts of rocket engines. The heart of an orbital rocket engine, and by far the most complex piece, is the pump system. We're excited to share this footage of testing with cryogenic liquid nitrogen this first prototype concept hardware fuel-side hybrid electric turbopump. This is a huge technical milestone towards development of our highly reusable rocket engine in development, which in turn is a key technology within our fully reusable Aurora launch vehicle. Read more
April 08, 2024 SFC Capital invests again in Astron Systems SFC Capital reinvests again in Astron Systems, following the UK government's increase to the SEIS cap, showing confidence in Astron and the great potential of the technology being developed.