Safran and Exotrail partner on electric propulsion reference offer
Safran Spacecraft Propulsion and Exotrail announce a strategic marketing & industrial partnership to jointly address the growing market for integrated electric propulsion systems, combining Safran’s proven high-power electric propulsion technologies with Exotrail’s expertise in designing, integrating and delivering complete propulsion systems.
Through this cooperation, the two French companies bring together complementary technologies and industrial capabilities to offer satellite manufacturers and operators a comprehensive range of electric propulsion solutions.
Safran has established a worldwide leading position in higher-power Hall-effect electric propulsion, with product portfolio ranging from 1 kW to 5 kW class power.
Exotrail has built a space-proven electric propulsion portfolio around lower-power Hall-Effect systems, starting with its 50W spaceware™-nano, the smallest Hall-Effect thruster in the world, its 150W spaceware™-micro already demonstrating significant in-orbit heritage and a new 450W system, the spaceware™- mini, under development. Combining high thrust, compactness and system efficiency, Exotrail’s propulsion solutions serve a broad range of satellite platforms and are supported by a rapidly scaling industrial footprint.
The partnership will therefore significantly broaden the range of missions that the two companies can address together.
Under the agreement, Safran will provide key propulsion equipment at the heart of its technological expertise, including the Hall-effect thruster and power processing electronics. Exotrail will integrate these technologies into complete propulsion systems, including the propellant tank, fluidic architecture, mechanical and thermal integration, harnesses, assembly, integration and testing, as well as overall system delivery and project management.
By combining Safran’s flight-proven propulsion technology and space heritage with Exotrail’s system integration expertise, engineering teams and industrial capabilities through a state of-the-art production infrastructure based in Massy, France, the two companies intend to offer customers a robust, competitive and fully integrated solution.
The agreement creates new commercial opportunities for both partners, materialized by an already significant pipe of commercial opportunities spread on their various geographical markets. It enables Exotrail to extend its portfolio towards higher-power missions, while providing Safran with an additional route to market through integrated propulsion systems delivered by Exotrail. The two companies will jointly identify and pursue commercial opportunities, with the ambition of increasing the competitiveness and reach of their combined offering.
The partnership was announced in Paris, on the eve of the World Space Business Week. More broadly, it illustrates how France’s established industrial leaders and its new generation of space companies can combine their strengths to compete on international markets. Rather than opposing industrial heritage and entrepreneurial agility, Safran and Exotrail are choosing to bring them together: proven technologies and industrial depth on one side; rapid development, system-level integration and customer-focused execution on the other.
Together, Safran and Exotrail aim to build a worldwide reference offering in electric propulsion, capable of addressing a wider spectrum of satellite platforms and strengthening France’s position in a strategic technology for the future of space mobility.
