Backing Pave Space: It's not brain surgery

Getting to space is no longer the hard(est) part. Over the past decade, launch costs have dropped dramatically; we are all now fairly used to reading news reports about new rocket launches, or seeing footage of reusable rockets gently landing on launchpads out in the ocean, not to mention the thousands of satellites that are sent into orbit every year. Getting to space is no longer a bottleneck, it’s what you do when you’re there.

But Europe's space tech is 20+ years behind the rest of the world. Today, most rockets deliver satellites only to low Earth orbit (LEO). From there, spacecraft must use their own electric propulsion to slowly climb to their operational orbit - a process that takes approximately six to twelve months. During that time, the satellite is effectively offline: generating no revenue whilst the operator's CAPEX sits idle, and mission timelines are stuck on Day zero. With over 12,000 satellites already in orbit and thousands more launching each year, this is becoming an industrial-scale inefficiency.

PAVE Space is building the infrastructure that fixes this, and will open up countless opportunities in the emerging in-space economy.

Pave are developing orbital transfer vehicles - "space tugs" - spacecraft that move satellites from (LEO) to their final destination - such as geostationary orbit (GEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), or lunar trajectories - in less than 24 hours post-launch. Where today's process takes months and burns through onboard propulsion, PAVE's vehicles deliver satellites efficiently, quickly, and reliably. For operators, this means services come online months earlier and capital is freed up. For defence and institutional customers, it means responsive, flexible mobility in an increasingly contested domain.

As of writing, Europe lacks an independent logistics capability in orbit. Even satellites launched on European rockets still depend on slow, self-powered orbit-raising systems owned by external entities to reach their final destination. As governments across the continent invest heavily in sovereign space capabilities - with more than €55 billion allocated to European defence spending in the coming years - orbital mobility is emerging as a strategic gap that needs ownership.

PAVE's architecture is designed with this in mind. Its vehicles are designed to be fully compatible with global launcher systems, including Falcon 9, Ariane 6, and MHI, and give European operators a launcher-agnostic mobility layer that doesn't depend on external parties.

Pave was founded in Lausanne in 2024 by Julie Böhning and Jérémy Marciacq, following years building rockets together since their student days at EPFL. The pair previously co-founded the Gruyère Space Program (the first European reusable rocket initiative) where incredibly they designed, built, and launched a reusable rocket demonstrator that completed over 50 test flights in a single year, on a total budget of CHF 250,000. 

That experience shaped how Pave operates today. The company develops propulsion, avionics, control algorithms, and structural design completely internally. In under four months, the team designed, built, and tested the propulsion system for its first platform. They've converted a former Alpine power plant into a rocket engine test facility, with first firings planned for later this year and an in-space demonstration mission scheduled for October.