When Morpheus Space began as a graduate project at the Technical University of Dresden (Germany), its founders pulled off something few students do: they used electric propulsion to execute a collision-avoidance maneuver on a nanosatellite. 

That lab breakthrough became their company’s calling card. Seven years on, Morpheus Space has relocated its HQ to Los Angeles, kept a major engineering base in Dresden, and is positioning its second-generation electric thruster, GO-2, as a foundational building block for how satellites move, avoid collisions, de-orbit, and soon – service one another.

Focusing not on getting things into space, but keeping them there after launch, Morpheus’ innovative engines are making the spacetech sector cheaper and safer. Once the exclusive domain of Cold War super-powers, in recent decades more nations, and then billionaires, have proven themselves space-ready. 

In the latest TechTalks with TFN episode, CEO Kevin Lausten with an experience in space tech of nearly a quarter of a century including  imagery analytics, rocket engines, and now propulsion, joined TFN to map the market forces reshaping “New Space,” why autonomous maneuvering is AI’s first killer app in orbit, and what Morpheus needs to scale.

Watch the full conversation below:

From student project to industry leader

Realising the importance of manoeuvrability for satellites Morpheus was founded in 2018, establishing a presence in the US the following year joining Techstars Space (Los Angeles), established a US presence in El Segundo, before moving their headquarters from Germany to California. Their technology GO-2 propulsion system soon got a chance to prove itself when they partnered with Italian orbital transportation company D-Orbit to integrate their thrusters with one of their satellites. 

“We launched that spacecraft on a “Transporter” mission provided by SpaceX. And then we went through a series of testing and validation operations,” Lausten explained. “Once the satellite reached orbit we collected a tremendous amount of data to validate that the product operated as expected.”

Morpheus has pioneered Field Emission Electric Propulsion. The technology uses a solid solid metallic propellant as fuel fuel that is not liquefied until orbit, making it ideal for use with satellites. “A couple of factors [helped] us move from a research group to a commercial company,” Lausten told us. “One is ease of integration. So the product needs to be very easy for our customers to work with … The second is the product needs to be very reliable, it needs to be the kind of thing that we can stand behind. And our brand speaks for ourselves.”

Morpheus also plays a role in lowering manufacturing and integration costs, enabling satellites to maintain orbit and avoid collisions for longer. He’s particularly excited about the potential their propulsion systems provide to extend satellite lifespans thanks to their efficient and reliable design. “Satellites are a high-value asset that can be worth a couple of hundred million dollars,” Lausten said. “If you could fly up to it and approach it carefully and then attach additional propulsion units to extend the mission life of that asset, that creates tremendous value.”

With a growing order book, Morpheus is scaling production in Dresden, targeting ~100 units next year and investing in sales and business development to meet demand.

Funding, valuation and the next raise

Morpheus closed a $28 million Series in 2022. The company is currently fundraising with the aim to expand go-to-market and scale manufacturing. “We’ve built an exciting backlog and pipeline,” Larson notes. “Now we’re investing to scale customer agreements and fulfill them.”

The future of the space sector

Lausten is optimistic about the future of the space sector, pointing to how it will benefit not just from lower launch costs, but also earth-based developments like AI and increased defence spending.

One particular area where he sees AI helping is collision detection and avoidance. With low-earth orbit becoming increasingly crowded, the risk of collision and even Kessler Syndrome – where collisions cascade as more debris is created is very real. Currently, collisions are avoided by moving satellites, but the rate of maneuvers needs is growing exponentially.

“Over the past two years, the number of manoeuvres has increased by a factor of two each year. It was 25,000, manoeuvres in 2022, then 50,000 in 2023 and 100,000 in 2024. We’re on that same trend here in 2025,” he explained. Surprisingly, each of these moves requires human intervention, and soon the number of manoeuvres required will outstrip capacity. “The execution of manoeuvres to avoid collisions is the most likely AI implementation of mobility in the short term.”

Lausten also sees the space sector expanding. Just as NASA is planning a human return to moon orbit next year, commercial companies are looking beyond low-earth orbit. “There’s increased demand and interest in geostationary orbit. There’s increasing interest in cislunar, which is the area between the moon and the Earth. And then further out, in lunar economies and Martian economies,” he said. “It feels like the stuff that you would see in sci-fi movies, and it will be thought of as sci-fi until people really start building businesses around it, but I think that will occur within the next five to ten years.”

He can also see an increase in government spending in space. “Government budgets tied to defence continue to grow globally. Nations around the world are recognising that space is likely to be the next war-fighting domain,” he said. However, he added that has much wider benefits. “Space is a dual-use environment. When you invest in defence technology, you have the secondary effect of stimulating commercial growth.”

A squiggly path to space, and success

With more than two decades of experience, Lausten is excited about the future of spacetech, but he doesn’t recommend the linear trajectory of a rocket for a career.

“I followed a squiggly-line path. I got involved in different technologies, in different categories associated with the industry, and worked with great people along the way,” he told us. “It would be impossible for someone to look at where I was, coming out of university, and predict that the path I followed.”

For Lausten, that squiggly line comes from knowing a market, and providing a solution, like Morpheus’ propulsion, that serves that market. “Founders get enamoured with the technology or the solution they’ve come up with and then go searching for a problem,” he explained. “That’s backwards. You’ve got to really love the market. You’ve got to love the problem first and then build products that address the real problem that the customer is facing.”

This article is part of TechTalks with TFN, our video interview series unpacking the people, products and policy shaping the next era of tech.