Pangea Aerospace: Strategic-Technological Analysis
is a European NewSpace propulsion venture pushing the boundaries of rocket engine design. Founded in Barcelona in 2018, this company has quickly gained attention for reviving the long-theorized aerospike rocket engine using cutting-edge 3D printing and advanced materials. An aerospike engine replaces the traditional bell-shaped nozzle with a spike-shaped exhaust plug, promising higher efficiency across all altitudes – a potential game-changer for orbital launch. Pangea’s engineers have leveraged additive manufacturing to overcome the historic complexity that kept aerospikes out of mainstream rockets, successfully hot-firing the world’s first liquid methane/oxygen aerospike in 2021. Now backed by significant investment and European institutional support, including a recent €23 million funding round joined by the former CEO of ArianeGroup, Pangea is scaling up its technology for real-world missions. Its flagship ARCOS engine is designed to be reusable and ultra-efficient, potentially enabling smaller rockets to carry heavier payloads at lower cost. As Europe strives for strategic autonomy in space, Pangea Aerospace exemplifies the region’s innovative drive to reduce reliance on non-European propulsion systems. The company’s work is poised to give Europe a unique edge in launch capability – a critical factor in both commercial space competitiveness and sovereign defense capacity – and has piqued the interest of agencies and industry players eager to capitalize on a homegrown propulsion breakthrough.