With its announcement that it had secured €2 million in new funding, French startup ArcSpace announced plans to test an automated welding system in orbit in 2027.
Founded in 2022, ArcSpace is developing compact electron-beam tools designed to weld, join and cut metallic structures in orbit for applications including spacecraft servicing and assembly. On 25 August, the company announced that it had closed a seed funding round that would support the expansion of its team, the qualification of its flight hardware, and preparations for its first in-orbit demonstration mission.
Speaking to European Spaceflight, ArcSpace CEO Guillaume Mohara explained that the demonstration would involve a small 12-kilogram payload, which he described as “very compact for the mission’s ambitions.” It will be flown aboard a host spacecraft operated by an as-yet-unnamed partner, which the company plans to announce later this month.
Once in orbit, the demonstration will be conducted autonomously. Ground controllers will send a command to initiate each test run, after which the welding operations will be controlled entirely by the onboard computer. According to Mohara, several hour-long test runs are planned, with each involving more than 100 seconds of short-duration welds. Data will then be collected and analysed before the next run is performed.
If the 2027 demonstration is successful, ArcSpace expects to begin bringing the technology to market from 2028, targeting applications in in-orbit servicing, repair and assembly.
“The space industry has traditionally operated on a one-time-use model,” Mohara explained in a 25 August statement. “When something failed, or a satellite ran out of fuel, infrastructure worth hundreds of millions of euros was lost. At ArcSpace, we believe that the ability to manufacture, repair, and modify equipment directly in orbit is the only way to build a sustainable and secure space economy.”
