Swiss space startup Stellar Alpina has unveiled plans to develop a lunar lander powered by the company’s rotating detonation rocket engine.
In a 2 November announcement, the company unveiled its planned Morpho lunar lander and an orbital transfer vehicle called Monarch. According to the company, it intends to initially focus on Monarch, using the spacecraft as the technological foundation for its subsequent lunar lander.
Monarch is being designed to deliver payloads of up to 200 kilogrammes to a range of orbits, extending as far as cislunar space. The company has also identified other potential applications, including hosting payloads and conducting orbital inspection, rendezvous, and proximity operations.
Building on Monarch’s architecture, Morpho will be designed to deliver up to 50 kilogrammes to the Moon’s surface. The company is positioning the lander as “the transportation infrastructure for a thriving lunar economy. “
“Just as previous generations connected regions once separated by mountains, our challenge is now to bridge worlds,” said Stellar Alpina co-founder Victor Elliesen in a 2 November news release. “At Stellar Alpina, we are building the spacecraft and infrastructure to make that possible.”
The announcement of the company’s plans for Monarch and Morpho comes just nine months after Stellar Alpina’s founding. Its four founders came from the Academic Spaceflight Initiative Switzerland (ARIS), a student-led organisation that developed a rotating detonation rocket engine demonstrator in 2024.
Stellar Alpina’s transition from student-led research to commercial development is being backed by a CHF 3.5 million (€3.8 million) pre-seed funding round that the company closed in May. The round was led by Swiss venture capital firm Founderful, with participation from LP&E and other investors.
The rotating detonation engine
Stellar Alpina’s Genziana rotating detonation engine is designed to produce between 1 and 5 kilonewtons of thrust, burning propane and hydrogen peroxide.
According to the company, it completed an initial engine testing campaign earlier this year, conducting eight successful hot-fire tests of its Engine 0 prototype. It reported that the tests demonstrated up to five stable detonation waves. In October, Stellar Alpina announced that it had expanded its testing programme, completing more than 150 hot-fire tests across 23 engine configurations.