Exotrail is a French space company specializing in on-orbit transportation solutions for small satellites. They design, develop, and operate mobility solutions, including electric propulsion systems (ExoMG™), mission simulation and operation software (ExoOPS™), and orbital transfer vehicles (SpaceVan™). Their services aim to optimize satellite deployment, increase performance, and reduce space pollution. Exotrail has partnered with companies like Thales Alenia Space and Prométhée Earth Intelligence and receives support from CNES.
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Exotrail is learning how to industrialize its product and produce at scale.
Exotrail offers satellite operators the ability to share the cost of launches on cheaper rideshare missions, followed by using the OTV to deliver satellites to their desired orbital trajectories.
Exotrail provides customers the ability to test technologies and gain flight heritage by hosting payloads.
Deploying satellites through the OTV puts Exotrail in competition with small launchers, according to CEO Jean-Luc Maria.
Exotrail unveiled the customer manifest for its second mission of the spacevan orbital transfer vehicle, which will launch on SpaceX’s Transporter-16 in early 2026.
According to Jean-Luc Maria, the only small rocket that competes with Exotrail is Rocket Lab, which has low capacity and long wait times.
Exotrail’s second OTV mission will occur more than two years after its first spacevan flight, which launched in 2023.
Exotrail aims to provide a wide range of services for future customers and plans to take on in-space servicing missions that require rendezvous and proximity operations capabilities.
Exotrail is ramping up its mission cadence with two missions in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) planned for 2026 and two missions in Geostationary Orbit (GEO) beginning in 2027, one of which is supported by CNES.
Exotrail vertically integrated many subsystems aboard the spacevan after the first mission to improve the economics and capabilities of future OTV missions.
Exotrail will fly its spacevan transfer vehicle as a secondary payload on an Ariane 6 launch to geostationary orbit scheduled for the second half of 2026.
Exotrail’s spacevan is the geostationary version of the company’s Orbital Transfer Vehicle designed to transport and deploy other satellites into specific orbits.
Exotrail aims to open new possibilities for smaller satellites needing to reach the geostationary arc.
Exotrail deployed a first satellite from its spacevan in February 2024 following a launch on a SpaceX Transporter mission in 2023-11-01.
Exotrail’s geostationary spacevan is scheduled to launch on Ariane 6 in 2026.
Arianespace contracted the launch of Exotrail’s spacevan aboard a heavy-lift Ariane 64 rocket on 2024-11-19.
The launch of Exotrail’s spacevan will take place from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana in the second half of 2026.
Veoware was the second customer on Exotrail’s inaugural mission and will test its hardware aboard the platform using Exotrail’s hosted payload service spacehost.
Exotrail deployed an 8U satellite named EXO-0 that was manufactured by Endurosat and carried a payload from Airbus Defence and Space.
Exotrail’s delivery mission was launched in November 2023 aboard SpaceX’s Transporter 9 mission.