From left: Suas Aerospace board member Enda Kenny, company leaders Eoghan Gilleran, Rory Fitzpatrick, Peter O’Halloran and Edward Harris. Image: Brendan Lyon
The company was founded last year with the goal of creating a space launch facility in Ireland and is now part of a consortium that received €4.9m from Horizon Europe.
Irish start-up Suas Aerospace is part of a consortium that has received EU funding to simplify access to space.
The consortium has received €4.9m under Horizon Europe to develop interoperability between space launch test infrastructures and launch systems. The consortium – called EU-BEST (European Bench for Engine and Stage Testing) will design, develop and test reuseable, modular launch equipment and test services.
The project will be working on the mobility and adaptability of ground infrastructure and aims to carry out industrial-scale testing. The project will culminate with a test firing of a Spanish company’s aerospike rocket engine on EU-BEST infrastructure at the Spanish Aeroports de Catalunya.
Suas was founded last year with the goal of creating a European space launch facility in Ireland. For its part in the project, the company will provide a secondary location that aims to prove the compatibility of the consortium’s launch test infrastructure with Suas’ rocket engine test site in Ireland.
“This team brings together established space industry leaders with several European new space companies,” said Suas Aerospace COO Edward Harris. “The invitation to be part of the consortium and the ultimate success of the bid is a significant endorsement of Suas and our role in the developing European launch sector.”
Suas plans to offer small satellite launch services to deliver payloads into both the polar orbit and low-Earth orbit. The company also aims to develop a “global spaceport” that will include test and assembly facilities with easy access from mainland Europe, according to its website.
“This company is poised to lead the burgeoning European launch services sector, providing Europe with autonomous access to space,” said former Taoiseach and Suas board member Enda Kenny.
Ireland has been taking steps to bolster its growing space industry. Last month, a project led by University College Dublin secured nearly €8m from the sixth call of Ireland’s Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund.
This project aims to help Ireland develop its own sustainable space industry, with a focus on space communications, smart satellites and spacecraft.
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