
2024 was the year leading Liftero product to launch into space.
We finished the year with two planned space missions ahead of us and probably the fastest delivery of a satellite propulsion in the market.
Key Highlights of Liftero’s 2024
- Liftero’s green chemical propulsion system, BOOSTER, was designed and passed all tests for a SpaceX rideshare mission in less than a year. Its first launch, scheduled for Q1 2025, will demonstrate the system’s capabilities and establish its space heritage.
- Even before obtaining flight heritage, we had secured our first customer, to whom we delivered the propulsion system in an industry record time of just 3 months.
- Market interest in Liftero’s propulsion systems increased throughout the year. We are noticing growing market demand for green chemical propulsion, a trend we expect to continue as average satellite mass increases and launch costs decrease. Liftero now faces growing demand for our products for the 2025 and 2026 missions. Plans are underway to scale up production to meet the expanding satellite market.
Through 2024
The year began with a single, bold goal: to get the Liftero propulsion system ready for its first launch.
Thruster technology development started in mid-2023 and by early 2024 we had a solid TRL4, but it was a long way from that to a fully functional BOOSTER propulsion system that could be integrated as a payload into the demo satellite.
Our goal to have BOOSTER flight-ready by the end of 2024 was highly ambitious.
That’s why throughout the year our engineers spent most of their time hot-fire testing the thruster and iterating on the propulsion system design. You can watch a video of the Liftero’s thruster being tested here.
By spring we had a production-ready Electronic Control Unit (ECU). Our confidence grew as we assembled the first system engineering model, confirming that we were on the right track.
In the summer, we decided to publicly announce our first space mission, RED5, which will demonstrate BOOSTER’s capabilities aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-13. Behind the scenes, the team has been working tirelessly to prepare BOOSTER for the mission, conducting vibration, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), camera and thruster performance tests.
During this period, Liftero also secured a contract with the European Space Agency under the ARTES program. Together with OHB Sweden and other partners, we began to develop an advanced propulsion system for large telecommunication and navigation satellites.
In October, we announced a new customer, OrbitAID, for whom Liftero would supply a customised BOOSTER system. This mission, scheduled for launch on an Indian PSLV in early 2025, will support OrbitAID’s in-space demonstration of docking and refuelling technology.

Using our novel approach to modular and scalable design, we were able to tailor BOOSTER to OrbitAID’s specific requirements in a very short timeframe of just 3 months. That’s something we’re very proud of, because it proves that our approach to propulsion system manufacturing works.
The last few months of 2024 were the most intense as our small team had to finalise the delivery of both BOOSTER systems.
The year ended with the assembly of the satellite for the RED5 mission in the UK, and Liftero’s team worked hard to get everything ready before Christmas. The team did their best to ensure that in 2025 we will see not one, but at least two space missions with BOOSTER satellite propulsion on board.

Next steps
In Q1 2025, Liftero’s green chemical propulsion system, BOOSTER, will be launched aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-13 as the RED5 mission (expected launch date is 3 March 2025). At the time of this publication, RED5 is being fueled in the United States, before the final integration into the deployer at SpaceX’s facility by the end of January.
The mission is crucial for Liftero’s future. We need to prove to potential customers that our product works as advertised.
The year 2025 will be exciting for Liftero as we plan to have our official product launch. With growing customer interest, we also plan to scale up production to provide propulsion systems for small satellite missions worldwide.
Liftero’s mission is clear: to provide 100% reliable propulsion that can be produced on a large scale. In this way, we want to contribute to the space industry, which is becoming increasingly important to almost every aspect of our lives here on Earth.