Exolaunch
German commercial launch services and rideshare integrator headquartered in Berlin. Specialises in smallsat deployment and rideshare brokerage, integrating customer payloads onto SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter and Bandwagon missions, Vega-C, and other launch vehicles. Provides launch contracting, integration services, deployment hardware (CarboNIX separation systems, EXOpod CubeSat deployers), and on-orbit launch documentation. One of the principal European smallsat launch integrators alongside SAB Aerospace, ISILAUNCH (ISISPACE internal division), and D-Orbit.
Exolaunch is a Berlin-headquartered commercial launch integrator and separation hardware manufacturer, founded in 2010 by engineers from the Technische Universitaet Berlin Department of Space Technology.[^exolaunch-heritage] The company holds GmbH legal status and operates as a private entity with no publicly disclosed investors or parent company.
Exolaunch occupies a hybrid position in the smallsat supply chain: it acts simultaneously as a launch services broker - contracting rideshare slots from launch vehicle operators and reselling them to satellite customers - and as a manufacturer of its own deployment hardware, principally the CarboNIX family of separation systems and the EXOpod family of CubeSat deployers.[^news-33][^news-25]
The CarboNIX separation system, space-qualified in 2019, is designed for microsatellites up to 200 kg (15" variant) and up to 250 kg-class payloads (24" variant, confirmed April 2025).[^news-33][^news-126] Its spring-pusher mechanism minimises deployment shock and residual tip-off rates below 1 deg/s. The EXOpod deployer family supports CubeSats from standard 1U configurations through the 16U extended form factor, with flight heritage from 2019.[^news-25] In early 2025, Exolaunch introduced the Quadro family of four-point separation systems, winning the 'Innovation in Space' award at the 2023 European Space Forum.[^news-101]
On the launch services side, Exolaunch has integrated satellites on every SpaceX Transporter rideshare mission to date and secured a multi-launch framework agreement with SpaceX extending capacity through 2028.[^news-127] By May 2026, the company had completed 47 missions and deployed over 520 satellites.[^news-152][^news-122] Customers span government agencies (NASA, ESA, DLR, CNES, UNOOSA), defence research institutions, and commercial operators including Planet Labs, Spire Global, ICEYE, Synspective, and Pixxel. The EUR 18M German Space Agency (DLR) contract awarded in January 2024 covers launch brokerage, integration, and technical guidance for small satellite developers under the German Small Satellite Initiative.[^news-98]
Exolaunch also offers a mission management service bundle covering pre-launch integration documentation and on-orbit handover support, and has extended its deployment hardware to beyond-LEO missions, supplying CarboNIX and EXOpod Nova hardware for the Intuitive Machines IM-2 lunar rideshare in February 2025.[^news-120] The company operates its primary manufacturing and engineering operations in Berlin and maintains US commercial operations through Exolaunch USA, headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
Leadership transitioned in August 2024 when founder Dmitriy Sternharz moved from CEO to President, handing the CEO role to Robert W. Sproles, who joined from Spire Global where he served as VP of Constellation Planning and Operations.[^news-113]