The final review of our activity within the ESA GSTP program validates the design of a next-generation combustion chamber with unique cooling. Our technology is maturing as we’re advancing compliance with the ECSS additive manufacturing process for green chemical propulsion, reflected in the higher quality and reliability of BOOSTER propulsion systems.

We have successfully completed the final review of our project “Advanced manufacturing of the thrust chamber for nitrous oxide-based propulsion”, under the European Space Agency’s General Support Technology Programme (GSTP). 

The goal of the 9-month project, started in June 2025 and conducted within ESA’s Advanced Manufacturing framework, was to design and prequalify combustion-chamber manufacturing processes for BOOSTER green-chemical propulsion systems. 

As a result, the standard of our metal additive manufacturing process has matured towards the ECSS guidelines for materials, processes, and components. That translates directly to outcomes for our clients: higher BOOSTER reliability and repeatable production quality. Full ECSS qualification for additively manufacturing propulsion parts remains one of the most demanding benchmarks in the industry, with very few companies having achieved it. Our progress within this framework positions us on a clear path toward that standard.

As part of the prequalification, multiple thrusters were produced according to our ready design. Using refined additive manufacturing techniques, the thrusters were then subjected to detailed inspection, quality assessment, and functional hot-fire testing on the test bench.

Reliability improved through a unique cooling design

The project’s results have already been incorporated into our propulsion systems.

BOOSTER’s design employs a unique regenerative cooling in the combustion chamber. This significantly improves the thruster’s thermal performance – keeping chamber temperatures below 300°C in steady-state during firing. This translates to no thermal constraints for firing length and no performance degradation over time.

The low firing temperature and high efficiency allow for manufacturing the combustion chamber from stainless steel – an accessible, easily workable material that is orders of magnitude more cost-efficient than the high-temperature materials typically used in competing solutions.

The entire combustion chamber design is enabled by metal 3D printing during manufacturing. We have managed to not only lower the cost and deliver high performance in space but also to offer predictable, short lead times with mitigated supply risks, at scale. 

This is a key milestone in our journey to build solutions that, through scalable processes, can meet the demand from satellite operators and deliver a whole product – from fast quotes, through fast delivery, to fast maneuvers.

The project was delivered in partnership with Progresja SA, a Polish specialist in advanced manufacturing methods, including metal 3D printing, which helped us mature our solutions towards ECSS standards.

Building Propulsion as the Collaboration of ESA and Poland Grows

The results were presented to and validated by a broad panel of ESA experts. Building on this milestone, Liftero is already in discussions with the agency on a follow-on project to qualify its full thruster portfolio under ESA supervision, one of the world’s most rigorous and mature frameworks for space qualification.

The successful completion of Liftero’s project under the ESA contract comes at a time of unprecedented investment in Europe’s space capabilities. At the ESA Council at Ministerial Level in November 2025 (CM25), member states committed €22.1 billion, the largest budget in ESA’s history. Poland emerged as one of the standout contributors, increasing its commitment to €731 million for 2026–2028 and becoming ESA’s eighth-largest contributor. Poland’s FLPP (Future Launcher Preparatory Programme) subscription alone grew from €3 million to €48 million, signaling a strategic commitment to building national capability in space transportation technologies.

For Polish space technology companies like Liftero, this creates new opportunities for ESA-supported technology development and qualification, bridging the gap between commercial innovation and the rigorous standards required by institutional customers and constellation operators.

Scaling Manufacturing for the Growing Demand

There are already filings for about 200,000 satellites across 75+ constellations. Filing is not the same as launching, but even if 80% of them will never reach orbit, the result would be 40,000+ new spacecraft in orbit. The scale is massive, and so will the demand be.

Yet, most propulsion systems are still built through conventional, low-volume processes, creating a bottleneck between satellite manufacturing target capacity and propulsion supply. 

Liftero aims to close this gap with propulsion hardware built for industrial-scale series production from the ground up – with repeatable processes, cost-efficient materials, and predictable delivery while offering strong mission performance.

Completing the milestones within Liftero’s ESA activity is part of our strategy. It already translates into higher reliability for customers and into production capability.
We’re continuing to scale output while maintaining the highest quality standards.