Pangea and partners receive €7.27M funding to develop aerospike engine
April 17, 2025
A consortium that includes Pangea Aerospace, based in Barcelona, Spain, has secured €7.27 million in funding from the Spanish government to complete the development of its ARCOS aerospike engine. Pangea has credited the use of Additive Manufacturing and new materials with its ability to improve the thermal qualities of aerospike engines.
In May 2024, Spain’s Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities published a call for proposals aimed at funding projects pursuing the maturation of disruptive space technology. The Space Technology Programme (PTE) 2024 call was managed by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) and funded through the country’s Strategic Projects for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) Aerospace programme.
TRUSTED CONTENT. TARGETED AUDIENCE
Advertise with Metal AM and access a global base of 50,000+ AM professionals
| Contact us |
On April 9, the CDTI announced that it had awarded PTE 2024 grants totalling €70 million to twenty-four individual projects. The second-largest grant, worth €7.27 million, was awarded to the ITP Aero-led MERLIn (Efficient and Reusable Engine for International Launchers) project consortium, which includes Pangea Aerospace. The €7.27 million will, however, not fully cover the total project cost, which is estimated at €11.6 million. The difference will be made up by the consortium partners.
The MERLIn project will be focused on the development, manufacturing, and testing of the Pangea Aerospace ARCOS aerospike engine. According to the company, ARCOS will be capable of producing 750 kN of thrust and is designed for use aboard the upper stage of medium and heavy launch vehicles. In addition to reported performance improvements, the engine is said to be suitable for the re-entry and reuse of upper stages – the former a characteristic Pangea stated that, to date, has only been achieved by SpaceX’s Starship.
ITP Aero leads the MERLIn project consortium, contributing its propulsion systems. Sener will provide the thrust vector control system, while Aenium Engineering will supply advanced materials and additive manufacturing. Pangea Aerospace will handle the complete development of the engine, from design to testing, and will receive €3.9 million of the total €7.27 million grant, the largest share among the partners.
