Balerion Senior Associate Aidan Daoussis sits down with Adrián Senar, Co-Founder & CEO of Kreios Space, to discuss very low Earth orbit. Kreios is developing air-breathing electric propulsion and satellite platforms designed to operate around 200 kilometers altitude. The company aims to make VLEO commercially viable for Earth observation, telecommunications, and defense applications.
Timestamped Overview
00:00 – Introduction to Kreios Space and VLEO
01:42 – Why satellites do not currently operate at 200 kilometers
03:03 – Benefits of VLEO for imaging, SAR, telecom, and defense
04:42 – The harsh VLEO environment and satellite design requirements
06:10 – Potential future use cases and constellation architectures
08:03 – Adrián Senar’s background and the origin of Kreios
09:20 – Company traction, funding, team growth, and 2027 demo mission
10:44 – How air-breathing electric propulsion works
12:04 – What happens to a standard satellite at 200 kilometers
13:23 – Customer demand from defense and commercial constellations
14:42 – Kreios’ platform model and why VLEO is not plug-and-play propulsion
15:37 – First in-orbit demonstration planned for Q4 2027
17:38 – Operating from Spain and the European space ecosystem
19:00 – National security applications and resilience in VLEO22:01 – Coverage tradeoffs and constellation size requirements
23:22 – Historical VLEO missions and ESA’s GOCE mission
26:32 – Scaling production and adapting platforms for different missions
28:01 – Export controls, NATO alignment, and future customer strategy
30:17 – Team structure, founder roles, and decision-making
32:16 – Expected satellite lifetime in VLEO with Kreios technology
33:02 – Why standard satellite buses cannot simply adopt the thruster
34:33 – Market size for VLEO across defense and telecom
35:07 – Adjacent altitude regimes and future space technologies
38:03 – Technical challenges of the in-orbit demonstration
39:28 – Payloads, early government interest, and focus on VLEO data
42:47 – Long-term company vision and potential acquisition interest
44:07 – Investor misconceptions about Kreios as a propulsion company
46:07 – Hardest company-building challenges and team culture
48:40 – Final takeaway: VLEO as the next major space domain
