Exploring 'very low Earth orbit': The world's 1st air-breathing satellite thruster could soon get a test run

Exploring 'very low Earth orbit': The world's 1st air-breathing satellite thruster could soon get a test run

A new way to move around Earth's outer atmosphere could soon get a field test.The Spanish company Kreios Space plans to launch into orbit the world's first satellite that uses scooped-up air to push it forward, the company announced on Tuesday (Aug. 4). The technology Kreios Space has been developing is called air-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP). It relies on air sourced from Earth's atmosphere, which is then heated up, ionized and expelled…

Kreios Space's Satellite Will Scoop Thin Air to Fight the Drag That Kills Low Orbits

Spanish startup Kreios Space just named Kongsberg NanoAvionics as the builder of the platform that will carry its experimental thruster into space. The goal is straightforward and ambitious: prove that a satellite can collect residual atmospheric gases at extremely low altitudes and turn them into continuous thrust, staying aloft where conventional craft fall quickly. Very [...]

Kreios Space selects Kongsberg NanoAvionics for first-ever air-breathing electric propulsion VLEO satellite - Cyprus Shipping News

Mission set to pave the way for future long-duration operations in very low Earth orbit (VLEO) Nigrán, Spain, and Vilnius, Lithuania, 4 August 2026 – Kreios Space, the VLEO satellite specialist, will be the first company in history to launch a satellite with an air-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP) into orbit. To test its technology, the