Alpha Impulsion

Alpha Impulsion develops space propulsion in France and Italy. It is building the autophage rocket engine, a design in which the rocket uses its own structure as fuel. The company started in 2022 and has a growing team of rocket engineers.

The company says its aim is to lower propulsion costs and deliver more efficient solutions for space vehicles. It says the autophage engine improves efficiency, cuts waste and allows more flexible and cost-effective mobility, from launch through to moving payloads in space. Its stated goal is end-to-end propulsion for Europe.

The company has reached key milestones. In 2025 it hot fired what it calls the world's largest autophage rocket engine. A programme called AMBRE began in 2023. It aims to show the flight of a small autophage rocket with 1 kN of thrust. The design and manufacture of the AMBRE rocket are complete. The programme has strong support from CNES, the French space agency, and interest from other European space agencies.

Two products are in development. Opal is an in-space autophage thruster. Grenat is a dedicated light launcher, built around the autophage vehicle, which the company sees as a first step to operating in Earth orbit. Work on this first orbital launcher is already under way.

Alpha Impulsion designs and assembles everything in-house. It follows a design, build, test and repeat cycle. When a test fails, the engineers learn, adapt and start again. The company says it has raised close to one million euros from public and private sources.

The company works with a wide group of partners. These include CNES, the ESA Business Incubator, Aerospace Valley, Bpifrance, the International Astronautical Federation, GIFAS and its StartAir programme, Alliance Newspace, ISAE, Plug and Play and CEPS. Its work is also funded by the European Union. People can contact the company about launches, investment, jobs, press and a payload user guide.

Services

• Autophage rocket engine development
• Opal in-space thruster
• Grenat light launcher
• AMBRE demonstrator programme
• Engine design, assembly and testing