Sophisticated maneuvers from a new spacecraft

Each year, SpaceNews selects the people, programs and technologies that have most influenced the direction of the space industry in the past year. Started in 2017, our annual celebration recognizes outsized achievements in a business in which no ambition feels unattainable. This year’s winners of the 8th annual SpaceNews Icon Awards were announced and celebrated at a Dec. 2 ceremony hosted at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C. Congratulations to all of the winners and finalists.

Impulse Space set the pace this year in a nascent in-space transportation market that is rapidly moving from promise to practice.

Founded by SpaceX propulsion veteran Tom Mueller four years ago, the California-based startup is redefining what maneuverable spacecraft can do for national security and commercial customers once deployed by a conventional rocket.

Impulse’s 300-kilogram Mira orbital transfer vehicle achieved two engine burns within a single trip around Earth for the first time in February, after being dropped off in low Earth orbit (LEO). That success demonstrated an agility that had once been limited to larger, more expensive spacecraft amid growing demand for more responsive space operations.

A more powerful Mira is slated to fly later this year with radiation-tolerant avionics, onboard reaction wheels and other upgrades designed to enable operations on future missions as far out as geostationary orbit (GEO). Impulse plans to use this version for two U.S. Space Force missions next year.

The startup is also preparing to debut a much larger space tug in 2026 called Helios, capable of carrying satellites weighing up to five tons from LEO to GEO in less than a day. Such satellites, using conventional kick stages or electric propulsion, can take weeks to months to reach GEO.

Meanwhile, Impulse has begun offering annual dedicated Falcon 9 missions starting in 2026 for its Caravan rideshare program, modeled after SpaceX’s rocket rideshare service to LEO, to meet rising demand for direct access to GEO.

Each tug would carry up to four tons of payload. The first mission is fully booked, and small geostationary manufacturing specialist Astranis recently said it plans to use a Caravan mission in 2027 to deploy six satellites.

According to Astranis, using Helios for direct geostationary injection would reduce months of orbit raising via its satellites’ onboard electric propulsion to mere hours.

After raising a $150 million Series B funding round last year to support the company through Helios’ debut, Impulse secured an additional $300 million in June in what it described as “preemptive” funding to meet growing demand.

The company counted 30 signed contracts at the time for Mira and Helios, representing a backlog worth nearly $200 million.

The additional funds are also fueling research and development, and in October Impulse announced plans to develop a lunar lander to fill what Mueller sees as a “critical gap” in missions to the moon.

According to Impulse, Helios would take about a week to transport a lander carrying three tons of cargo from LEO to low lunar orbit, from where it would descend to the surface.

The startup’s ambitions, technical achievements and commercial traction set it apart this year in an industry rife with promising technology and businesses.

This article first appeared in the December 2025 issue of SpaceNews Magazine.