HyPrSpace

Aerospace · Space Launch Vehicles · Hybrid Propulsion

Milestone

HyPrSpace opens first rocket engine factory, targets 100 a year

The Bordeaux startup is betting hybrid propulsion's simplicity can undercut heavy-lift rockets for customers needing dedicated, not shared, rides to orbit.

• HyPrSpace inaugurated its first mass-production rocket engine factory on Oct. 1, 2026, at Le Haillan near Bordeaux, targeting output of 100 engines a year.
• The French startup builds Orbital Baguette One, a hybrid rocket with fewer parts than conventional liquid launchers, led by CEO Nicolas Billecocq, a former Safran engineer.
• The 7,000-square-metre plant, nicknamed 'La Boulangerie,' employs about 150 people and can supply engines for 12 of HyPrSpace's planned orbital launchers a year.
• HyPrSpace's funding is split roughly equally between public and private sources, including a €21 million ($24 million) round completed in 2025.
• HyPrSpace said in 2024 that one of its hybrid engine tests reached an average efficiency of 94%, addressing a weakness that has typically trailed fully liquid engines.
• A suborbital demonstrator flight is planned for 2027 from the French defence ministry's DGA site at Biscarrosse, pending two more ground tests, marking what would be the first such launch from mainland France.
• The factory marks Europe's push to build sovereign, dedicated small-launch capacity rather than routing every payload through heavy-lift providers like SpaceX or Arianespace.