Zurich, Switzerland — August 30, 2025 — PAVE Space today announced the opening of its dedicated propulsion testing laboratory at Zurich Technopark. The 280 square metre facility, located in Building D of the Technopark complex at Technoparkstrasse 1, provides the infrastructure needed to conduct full-duration qualification testing of PAVE Space's hybrid propulsion system ahead of its 2026 demonstration mission.
Laboratory Capabilities
The new lab is equipped with a custom-built vacuum chamber capable of simulating orbital pressure conditions down to 10-6 mbar, sufficient for characterising both the chemical and electric thruster subsystems under representative operating conditions. The chamber has an internal diameter of 1.2 metres and length of 2.4 metres, accommodating full thruster assemblies with thermal management hardware installed.
Supporting infrastructure includes a propellant handling system rated for the bi-propellant combination used in PAVE Space's chemical thruster, with automated valve sequencing and real-time mass flow measurement accurate to 0.1 gram per second. The lab's data acquisition system records 128 channels of sensor data at up to 10 kHz sampling rate, enabling detailed characterisation of ignition transients, thrust stability, and thermal evolution during burn sequences.
"Having our own testing facility changes the pace of development fundamentally," said Dr. Yuki Tanaka, Chief Propulsion Engineer at PAVE Space. "We can run a test on Monday, analyse the data on Tuesday, make a hardware change on Wednesday, and retest on Thursday. That iteration speed is not possible when you are booking time on shared test facilities weeks in advance."
Location and Infrastructure
Zurich Technopark was selected for its combination of technical infrastructure, proximity to ETH Zurich and EPFL collaborators, and the established deep tech startup community already resident in the complex. The facility includes dedicated high-voltage power supply infrastructure for the electric propulsion system, rated at 10 kW continuous with peak capacity to 15 kW for transient testing. Exhaust handling systems manage the chemical thruster's combustion products safely within Swiss environmental regulations.
The lab shares the building with several ETH Zurich spin-offs working in adjacent technology areas, facilitating informal technical exchange and occasional joint testing arrangements. PAVE Space has a formal research collaboration agreement with ETH's Space Propulsion group, under which PhD students conduct research using the new facility as part of their thesis work.
Testing Programme
The lab will support PAVE Space's thruster qualification programme over the next 12 months, culminating in delivery of the flight-qualified thruster assembly for the 2026 demonstration mission. Key milestones in the testing programme include chemical thruster hot-fire qualification testing in October–November 2025, electric propulsion endurance testing over a simulated mission lifetime in December 2025–January 2026, integrated hybrid system testing including propellant crossover sequences in February–March 2026, and flight unit acceptance testing in April 2026.
Beyond the immediate qualification programme, the facility will serve as PAVE Space's long-term propulsion development infrastructure, supporting future thruster generations and, eventually, in-house production of propulsion components as the company scales toward commercial service.
Team and Hiring
The new laboratory requires dedicated test operations personnel in addition to PAVE Space's existing propulsion engineering team. The company has open positions for a Propulsion Test Engineer and a Vacuum Systems Technician based at the Zurich lab. Both roles involve hands-on hardware work and offer the opportunity to contribute directly to a mission-critical development programme. Details are available on the PAVE Space careers page.