French spaceplane startup AndroMach announced on 15 May that it had received a CNES contract to begin testing an early prototype of its Banger v1 rocket engine.
Founded in 2023, AndroMach is developing a pair of spaceplanes that will be used to perform suborbital and orbital missions to space. The suborbital ENVOL spaceplane will utilize turbojet engines for takeoff and landing, and a pressure-fed LOX/biopropane rocket engine to reach space. Test flights of this smaller vehicle will begin in early 2027. The larger ÉTOILE “orbital shuttle” is designed to be launched by a variety of small launch vehicles and will be capable of carrying payloads of up to 100 kilograms. According to the company, initial test flights of ÉTOILE are expected to begin at the beginning of the next decade.
In 2022, the French space agency CNES launched its Appel à Idées Innovation du Transport Spatial initiative, an ongoing series of calls for proposals aimed at fostering innovation in the space transportation sector. It serves as France’s equivalent to ESA’s Future Launchers Preparatory Programme. The initiative is jointly managed by the agency’s Space Transportation and Strategy Directorates. The most recent call was published in late September 2024, with the AndroMach engine testing project selected as one of the candidate proposals.
According to the 15 May AndroMach announcement, its Appel à Idées Innovation du Transport Spatial contract will support testing of an early LOX/propane engine demonstrator, with a focus on evaluating its thermodynamic performance. The resulting data will be used to optimize the engine’s design.
While AndroMach has outlined the scope of its planned work, the level of support it will receive remains unclear. Selected candidate projects under the Appel à Idées Innovation du Transport Spatial initiative can receive funding for feasibility studies, pre-project development, and technology demonstrations, but neither CNES nor AndroMach has disclosed the nature or amount of support awarded to the company.
