ENPULSION, an Austrian industrial manufacturer of spacecraft propulsion systems, has entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of the share capital of the UK-based chemical propulsion and tank design company, Lift Me Off (LMO), which has worked on European Space Agency (ESA) missions.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and completion of the transaction is subject to approval by the UK Government under the National Security and Investment Act 2021.
Dr. Alexander Reissner, CEO of ENPULSION, commented, “This acquisition signals our commitment to building the complete spacecraft mobility backbone. LMO brings institutional design credentials, a talented team, and a complementary technology base in chemical propulsion and tank systems. Combined with our industrialised electric propulsion, ADCS capabilities, and the Cortex integration layer, we are assembling the pre-qualified building blocks that will allow customers to configure their entire mobility architecture from a single, proven partner, without re-engineering from scratch.”
Founded in 2016 by Dr. Reissner as AMR Propulsions Innovations, ENPULSION was spun out of FOTEC, the research subsidiary of Austria’s University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, to commercialise field-emission electric propulsion (FEEP) technology.
The company delivers flight-proven electric propulsion systems powered by FEEP technology to satellite operators worldwide. It claims to be building the spacecraft mobility backbone: a modular, pre-integrated architecture combining propulsion, attitude control, navigation, and the Cortex integration layer into repeatable, mission-configured mobility solutions.
The company reports that its modular FEEP technology has delivered more than 320 propulsion systems currently operating in orbit, and has hardware on 15 of 17 SpaceX Transporter missions. Headquartered at Vienna Airport in Austria, it has operations across Europe.
Earlier this year, in March, ENPULSION announced it had secured €22.5 million in growth funding led by Nordwind Growth to fuel its global growth strategy, including scaling production capacity, advancing next-generation space mobility systems, and deepening market penetration in the United States.
Founded in 2018 by Michel Poucet and Marcos Perez, Reading-based LMO is a space propulsion company specialising in the design and development of chemical and cold gas systems, propellant tanks, and pointing mechanisms for institutional and commercial space missions. It has participated in multiple ESA programmes and operates from the UK space cluster in Reading.
As part of this deal, Poucet and Perez will support the transition to ensure continuity of ongoing programmes and customer relationships.
Shaun Dormon, Managing Director of Lift Me Off Ltd, said, “This joining of forces is a natural fit for both companies built on similar, but technologically distinct, visions of readily accessible in-space mobility through modular and mission-adaptable solutions. By combining ENPULSION’s established scale, capabilities, and resources with LMO’s unique take on chemical propulsion system integration and enabling technologies, we can together bring forth a blend of highly efficient and agile in-space manoeuvring with minimal mission integration complexity.
“We at LMO look forward to continuing our current LEO and Lunar mission set whilst leveraging these technologies into the next generation of ENPULSION’s modular and scalable propulsion architecture.”
According to ENPULSION, this acquisition is a strategic step towards its transformation from an electric propulsion component supplier into a spacecraft mobility backbone company. With this transaction, ENPULSION adds chemical propulsion design capabilities, propellant tank technology, and ESA mission experience to its portfolio of pre-qualified building blocks, the modular, scalable architecture that enables spacecraft to move, orient, and adapt across missions.
LMO’s expertise in chemical and cold gas systems, propellant tanks, and pointing mechanisms, together with ENPULSION’s electric propulsion system, enables hybrid propulsion backbone configurations. This combines electric and chemical building blocks to serve missions requiring flexible delta-V across multiple phases.
ENPULSION also notes that LMO’s established position and relationships within the UK space ecosystem, including proximity to ESA’s European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT) and the Harwell Space Cluster, provide it with a strategic foothold for business development, customer proximity, and access to national programmes.
In addition to LMO’s track record of ESA programme participation, this acquisition also accelerates ENPULSION’s ability to offer pre-qualified chemical propulsion building blocks within the Cortex-enabled spacecraft mobility backbone. This reduces time-to-market for hybrid mobility configurations by leveraging LMO’s existing development work rather than building from scratch.
Source: EU-Startups
