Dubai Airshow, November 19, 2025: Aspire Space, a UAE-based space launch company, and LEAP 71, a Dubai-based pioneer in computational engineering for space propulsion, have signed a formal agreement to collaborate on the development of the Oryx reusable rocketship. The signing ceremony took place at Dubai Airshow, in the presence of HE Minister Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Chairman of the UAE Space Agency.
Oryx is a fully reusable, orbital-class launch vehicle designed to deliver up to 15 tons of cargo to low Earth orbit (3 tons in fully reusable mode). Both its booster and upper stage are engineered for rapid reusability — returning to Earth after each mission for quick turnaround and relaunch.
Building on their ongoing cooperation, Aspire Space is now contracting LEAP 71 to develop the rocket engines powering the Oryx’s second stage. Each engine will produce 20 tons (200 kN) of thrust, and the partners are pursuing two parallel propulsion paths: a conventional engine and a novel aerospike configuration.
The aerospike concept, long studied but never flown, offers superior efficiency across both atmospheric and vacuum flight regimes — making it particularly well suited for reusable launch systems. LEAP 71 gained international recognition in December 2024 for successfully testing a 5 kN aerospike engine, validating key aspects of its design.
Both Aspire Space and LEAP 71 are proud members in the UAE Space Agency’s Space Economic Zones Program, an integrated program designed to foster innovation, investment, and commercial growth across the space sector. Through this program, the two companies are contributing to the UAE’s vision of building a globally competitive and sustainable space economy.
This collaboration marks a major step toward establishing a sovereign UAE orbital launch capability, powered by advanced propulsion technologies developed domestically.
About Aspire Space
Aspire Space is developing Oryx — a next-generation, fully reusable rocketship. The two-stage architecture pairs a reusable booster with a reusable upper-stage spacecraft, creating a unified system designed for rapid turnaround and high-cadence operations.
Heritage and development. Oryx is the result of a focused two-year development effort, marking a technical milestone that builds on decades of aerospace heritage, drawing on engineering principles proven in Zenit and Energia–Buran, and refined through programs such as Sea Launch and Argo.
Main specs:
- Payload capacity: 3t to LEO in fully reusable configuration, (12.5t reusable, 15t expendable)
- Propulsion: 10 MethaLOX engines (5 × 1000 kN first stage; 5 × 200 kN orbital stage)
- Return capability: up to 3 tons cargo from orbit to Earth
Mission Profiles:
- Space station resupply and servicing
- Cargo and experiment return
- Autonomous orbital laboratory missions
- Future crewed and lunar flights
Aspire Space was founded by a team of rocket scientists who led prominent projects such as Zenit, Soyuz and Sea Launch, with the aim to advance the humanity to the New Space Age by providing cutting-edge launch and space transportation services
Co-founder and CTO – Sergey Sopov, renowned launch systems expert
Co-founder and CEO – Stan Rudenko, serial entrepreneur
Contact Rocketship@aspire.space — www.aspire.space
https://www.linkedin.com/company/aspirespaceuae
About LEAP 71
LEAP 71 was founded on the vision that radically accelerating real-world engineering is essential to shaping the future of humankind. Strategically based in Dubai, UAE, the company works with customers worldwide to design advanced machinery across aerospace, electric mobility, robotics, and thermal systems.
A pioneer in the emerging field of Computational Engineering, LEAP 71 designs physical objects autonomously — without manual modeling or human input. At its core is Noyron, a Large Computational Engineering Model that encodes logic, physics, production methodologies, and real-world feedback into a coherent, deterministic system. It has been called “the first AI that builds machines.”
Noyron generates functional designs in seconds or minutes, optimized for modern manufacturing technologies such as industrial 3D printing.
A key focus for the company is extending humanity’s footprint in space. LEAP 71 is developing a spectrum of reference designs for space propulsion systems that serve as the DNA for customer-specific engines. Frequent physical testing and validation continuously enrich Noyron’s models.
LEAP 71 was founded in 2023 by aerospace engineer Josefine Lissner and serial entrepreneur Lin Kayser.
Visit the LEAP 71 website for more information.
