Oct 1 (Reuters) - HyPrSpace has opened its first mass production factory in France, it said on Thursday, targeting 100 rocket engines a year as the French space startup gears up for a planned test flight next year.
HyPrSpace is one of several European space startups seeking to capitalise on growing demand and falling costs of space launches, with governments and commercial operators worldwide planning to put thousands of satellites into orbit.
The Bordeaux-based company says it could cut those costs further with its Orbital Baguette One hybrid rocket, which has fewer parts than conventional rockets. Hybrid engines have usually been less efficient than fully liquid ones, though HyPrSpace said in 2024 that one of its tests had reached an average efficiency of 94%.
France's defence ministry said in September a sub-orbital vehicle would fly in 2027 from a military site in what would be a first from mainland France. Two more ground tests are required before a flight test.
"Our ambition is to change the paradigm and the cost of access to space," HyPrSpace CEO Nicolas Billecocq, a former Safran engineer, told Reuters.
Still, the company remains a small player in an increasingly crowded European space launch market.
HyPrSpace was not selected in the first round of a European Space Agency launcher challenge tender, but Billecocq said the company intended to bid again. The startup's funding is split roughly equally between public and private sources, including a €21 million ($24 million) round completed in 2025.
The new 7,000-square-metre factory near Bordeaux can produce about 100 engines a year, enough for 12 of the company's planned orbital launchers.
Rather than competing with heavy-lift rockets that deploy dozens or even hundreds of satellites at once, such as SpaceX or Europe's Ariane, HyPrSpace is targeting customers that seek dedicated access to space, Billecocq said.
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(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro and Leo Marchandon in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
