- This month of March it will become the first Spanish startup that will have managed to launch into orbit a 100% propellant developed in Spain.
- She was also selected within the Space Technology Program of the Spanish Space Agency to lead the ATALAIA project.
The delegate of the Government of Spain in the Community of Madrid, Francisco Martín, visited today the facilities of the company IENAI SPACE in Leganés, a pioneer company in the space mobility sector that has received 2.9 million euros from PERTE Aerospace, thanks to which it has been able to develop new technological projects.
Among them stands out the ATALAIA project of the Spanish Space Agency, which leads and collaborates with other startups such as Lasing and Aldoratech, and institutions such as the CNM-CSIC and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, for the research of advanced manufacturing alternatives for the innovative propulsion technology for satellites that they have developed.
Accompanied by two of the company’s founders, Daniel Pérez, CEO, and Sara Correyero, director of the project, Francisco Martín visited the offices and the laboratory in Leganés, where materials are tested and defended the need to support companies that bring “added value to the Spanish industry”.
Thanks to European funds, IENAI SPACE will be able to face, from next year, the industrialization of the product to be able to produce and deliver hundreds or thousands of its engines to all interested companies, after completing the first launch, scheduled for the month of March, of a propulsion system entirely manufactured in Madrid.
He also highlighted the fact that the founders of the company are all graduates of the public university, specifically the Carlos III University of Madrid. In this regard, he stressed that it is “fundamental” to help companies that are born from public universities and that give “such good results”.
A complete solution to spatial mobility
IENAI SPACE is a Spanish company founded in 2019, with around thirty employees and based in Leganés (Madrid), specialized in the development of advanced electric propulsion systems and space mobility software for small satellites.
As the CEO has explained, propulsion systems are currently one of the most critical components of satellites. At IENAI SPACE they have developed an electric propulsion system, called ATHENA, which uses electrospray technology. Basically, it is about accelerating ions from a liquid salt known as an ionic liquid. It is a very efficient system, modular and adaptable to different satellite platforms.
But they also have another line of software, with tools for mission analysis and operations. These allow the satellite’s propulsive manoeuvres to be optimized, even in near real time. They serve, for example, to save propellant or speed up certain operations, taking into account all the restrictions of the orbital environment.
In this way they intend to offer a complete solution, both in hardware and software, to spatial mobility.