Stellar Alpina AG

Stellar Alpina is building detonation-based propulsion for mobility after launch. The Zurich-based startup develops compact rotating detonation rocket engines and in-space vehicle architectures for orbital mobility, high-energy transfers, and future deep-space infrastructure.

Just 82 days after incorporation, Stellar Alpina built and commissioned its test infrastructure and completed Europe’s first known commercial RDRE hotfire campaign with Engine 0, including eight detonative hotfires and up to five stable detonation waves.

As launch becomes cheaper and more accessible, the next bottleneck is movement in space. Stellar Alpina aims to solve this by making in-space propulsion smaller, lighter, more efficient, and more capable.