SIRIUS SPACE SERVICES SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES 4 COMBUSTION CHAMBER TESTS IN JUST 3 WEEKS

A major achievement in Europe, carried out with the support of CNES

Nanterre, March 12, 2026 – As part of the FAISCEAU project (Industrial Additive Manufacturing for the sovereignty and economic competitiveness of Aerospace in the European Union), conducted over the past two years with the support of CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales – French Space Agency), Sirius Space Services, a French pioneer in reusable small launchers, has successfully carried out a campaign of fire tests on 4 combustion chambers, each integrating distinct technological bricks produced by additive manufacturing. These tests validate advanced design and assembly solutions for space engines, combining mass reduction, mechanical robustness, and thermal endurance under extreme conditions.

FAISCEAU, a project to accelerate the development of critical technologies

The FAISCEAU project, integrated into CNES’s ASTRE project (Advanced Staged Combustion Technologies for Reusable Engines), was designed to mature critical technologies enabling the production of combustion chambers in Europe, targeting performance gains in terms of mass, robustness, and production cost, while freeing itself from traditional industrial constraints.

The project is based on the combination of several major innovations: advanced assembly strategies through multidirectional welding, bi-material designs combining different alloys to optimize mass and mechanical performance, and the use of various additive manufacturing technologies to create complex geometries and scale combustion chambers across different sizes.

This approach allows surpassing the dimensional limitations of current additive manufacturing capabilities and paves the way for a new generation of engines for reusable launchers.

An exceptional test campaign

Four combustion chambers, each incorporating a distinct technological brick, were tested at full scale on the P8 test bench at DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt – German Aerospace Center) in February 2026 over an intense period of just three weeks. Each chamber underwent two successive tests, for a cumulative total of 80 seconds of operation, reaching the nominal operating regime of the chamber.

The results allow progress toward consolidating the robustness of additive manufacturing methods developed at Sirius and the dedicated welding technologies, mastering the interfaces between materials, and, for the bi-material chamber, achieving a significant mass reduction combined with increased mechanical strength.

These tests constitute a major validation, under representative conditions, of the technologies developed within the FAISCEAU project. This campaign, entirely managed internally, illustrates the synergy between Sirius’s R&D division and the high-precision machining capabilities of its pilot factory, SERM by Sirius.

A structural industrial breakthrough for European space

These tests mark a key step for the European space industry. Beyond the technical success, this campaign opens the door to new manufacturing solutions for future reusable European engines capable of competing with international standards.

It enables exploration of new paths for producing combustion chambers of different sizes, independent of current tooling limitations, and prepares the next phases of development for the SIRIUS launcher.

“I would like to congratulate the SIRIUS teams for achieving this milestone, which advances innovative manufacturing methods for large bi-material combustion chambers,” said Miguel Martin-Benito, ASTRE Project Manager at CNES.

“Testing four combustion chambers with different architectures and materials in just three weeks represents a considerable engineering challenge. This campaign demonstrates the robustness of our additive manufacturing technologies and the ability of our teams to design, produce, and qualify innovative propulsion solutions quickly,” said Antoine Fourcade, CEO and Chairman of Sirius Space Services.

A central challenge for space launchers

Combustion chambers are at the heart of launcher engines: these critical components burn fuel at extreme temperatures and pressures to generate the thrust required to place satellites into orbit. Their design and manufacturing represent one of the major technological challenges of the space industry, historically mastered by a very limited number of actors worldwide. For Europe, mastering these technologies is a strategic challenge.

About Sirius Space Services

Founded in 2020, Sirius Space Services develops launch solutions dedicated to small satellites, with the ambition of making access to space more sustainable and strengthening European sovereignty through a competitive launch service on the commercial market. Its range ofreusable launchers, including SIRIUS-1, SIRIUS-13, and SIRIUS-15, will enable the launch of satellites under 1,100 kg to low Earth orbit (SSO 600 km), through agile, affordable, and low-environmental-impact launch services. Sirius Space Services is a two-time winner of the “mini and micro-launchers” call for projects under France 2030.

Source: Sirius Space