European arm of AMPAC-ISP American Pacific, an in-space propulsion subsidiary based in Dublin, has won a European Space Agency (ESA) contract to develop next-generation rocket engine technologies to be used for future interplanetary missions.

The initial phase of the contract is worth over €2m and will be shared between the Irish and UK divisions of AMPAC-ISP.

Under the €125,000 awarded to Ireland based Engineering Solutions International (ESIL), the company will work on specialist Computation Fluid Dynamics.

The ESA contract will involve the development of new processes, materials and technologies to improve the performance of liquid apogee engines used in spacecraft orbit insertion and other in-space propulsion manoeuvres.