December 11, 2025

Astron wins prestigious Institute of Physics Award

By Astron Systems

Astron Systems from Oxfordshire, UK 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.

The company has a new approach with their “hybrid electric turbopumps” for small rocket engine turbomachinery targeted at improving lifetime and reliability by addressing the typical sources of wear and tear in conventional small rocket engine turbopumps. This approach is expected to enable small high performance rocket engines to be reliably usable for over 50 flights without maintenance, whereas the state of the art today for this size and performance class of rocket engine struggles to be reliably re-flown after a single flight.

Due to fundamental physics scaling, small orbital class rocket engine turbopumps (which pump propellants within rocket engines) spin even faster than those for larger rocket engines, and do so in a challenging poorly lubricated environment. They also have to do this whilst preventing the mixing of fuel and oxidiser propellants, typically present on the same shaft, in the wrong location. This leads to severe wear and reliability challenges, especially for the inter-propellant seals and bearings, that limit reusability. The 99.9% reliable lifetime of conventional designs under these conditions might be measured in minutes.

Astron’s solution with their hybrid electric turbopumps completely mechanically separates the fuel and oxidiser within their rocket engines prior to combustion with no dynamic seals which can be subject to wear and failure, and then further uses hydrostatic bearings (which use the working fluid to provide support for the spinning shaft) to improve bearing lifetime. Power is then transmitted from the fuel side unit to the oxidiser side unit via an electrical transmission. The approach can thought of conceptually as an extension of a hybrid between battery driven electric propellant pumps as used in Rocket Lab’s Rutherford rocket engines, and more conventional fully mechanical turbopumps.

The company have already built and performed some testing of a first prototype proof of concept of the fuel side of the hybrid electric turbopump system. They’ve also completed a contract for the European Space Agency studying a next generation design, which they expect to manufacture and test soon taking the technology much closer to being flight ready.

The Institute of Physics (IOP) is the professional body and learned society for physics in the UK and Ireland. With a rich history of supporting business innovation and growth, it is committed to working with ‘physics-powered’ businesses, and companies that apply and employ physics and physicists.

The IOP’s prestigious Business Awards are unique in the UK and Ireland in recognising the significant contribution that physicists and physics make in industry and this year’s cohort of awardees contains the 100th IOP business award winner.

There are three categories of awards – Business Innovation, Business Start-Up and the Lee Lucas Award (for the medical and healthcare sector) – so businesses at any stage of their development are eligible; from start-ups to multi-national corporations.

The IOP Business Start-Up Award specifically recognises and celebrates young companies with a great business idea founded on a physics invention, with the potential for business growth and significant societal impact. Astron Systems CEO Eddie Brown said:

“It is an honour to be recognised by the institute of Physics for the start-up business award. This is great recognition of the potential of our first principles led breakthrough for novel turbomachinery technology, as an enabling step for long-lifetime small rocket engines, and 100% reusable small launch vehicles”.

Institute of Physics President Professor Michele Dougherty said:

“Physics drives discovery and innovation, transforming our understanding of the world. And it is the innovations of physics-powered businesses that are driving our economy, creating jobs and addressing the challenges that face us today. “In the coming years, physics will continue to shape our lives, hopefully making a better world for us all, and it is companies like those we are honouring with a 2025 IOP Business Award that are leading the way towards a prosperous, sustainable future. My sincerest congratulations to them all. “