Europe advances in reusable rockets with new avionics technology developed in Scotland

Edinburgh.- A new avionics technology developed in Scotland will allow Europe to design reusable rockets faster and more economically, by incorporating it into the ARCOS engine, one of the first flight-ready aerospikes. Aurora Avionics, a young company based in Edinburgh, has signed an agreement with Barcelona-based Pangea Propulsion to supply the electronic system that will act as the “brain” and “nervous system” of the ARCOS engine, a reusable aerospike that represents one of the most ambitious advances in new European space propulsion.

“We occupy a niche that didn’t exist before: offering modular, ready-to-integrate control systems that allow space companies to save time and resources,” explained Oren Smith-Carpenter, co-founder and CEO of Aurora Avionics, to EFE.

At 25 years old, he leads a team specializing in electronics for extreme environments. “We want manufacturers to be able to focus on what’s important – the engines and the tanks – without having to create an entire avionics department,” he added. Smith-Carpenter, who started as an apprentice in an aeronautical company at the age of 16, later worked at Orbex, one of the most relevant space launcher projects in the United Kingdom. There he discovered the need for a system that could be purchased “as a module” and not developed from scratch for each rocket.

Together with his partner, Rowland Fraser, he obtained initial support from the European Space Agency and established the company in 2023 at the Higgs Centre for Innovation, a technology incubation center of the European Space Agency located within the Royal Observatory of Edinburgh. “The talent here is incredible. We have strong universities in electronics and robotics, access to Glasgow’s space expertise and proximity to the future northern spaceports,” Smith-Carpenter noted. Fraser, technical director and co-founder, describes the avionics as “the brain of the rocket”: it manages thousands of sensors, processes data, and controls valves and engines. “A vehicle can have between one thousand and ten thousand sensors. Our system reduces that complexity and allows scaling without redesigning everything each time,” he explained to EFE.

ARCOS, a European Leap

ARCOS -powered by methane and oxygen- is one of the first reusable aerospike engines ready for flight in Europe. This technology, pursued for decades for its efficiency, maximizes performance from takeoff to ascent to orbit, allowing more payload to be transported at a lower cost.

“Aurora Avionics is providing key support in the development of avionics for our ARCOS engine, helping us advance in critical subsystems,” stated its CEO, Adrià Argemí, to EFE. “They combine efficiency with professional excellence, helping us to offer the best results under demanding deadlines.”

Smith-Carpenter emphasizes that ARCOS competes with new-generation American engines. “This type of technology will give Europe access to faster and more affordable launches, crucial for the continent’s space capability,” he stated.

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Fraser believes that the global pressure to launch more and more cheaply is transforming the sector. “Before, everything was done within each company. Now we must be smarter: collaborate, buy modules, reduce costs. In five years I hope to see a standardization of avionics for launchers,” he said.

Aurora Avionics’ next goal is clear: to fly

“We want to see our technology in orbit. Proving that it works up there will open the door to applying it in airplanes, drones and other critical systems,” said Smith-Carpenter. With ARCOS advancing towards mission tests, the cooperation between Edinburgh and Barcelona consolidates a new European technological axis in the space race, at a time when the continent seeks to reduce its dependence on US suppliers.