SPACERACE s.r.o.

SPACERACE s.r.o. is a space upstream startup based in Brno, Czech Republic, founded by Richard Hynek, a former ESA structural and systems engineer who worked on missions including Euclid, the James Webb Space Telescope, and Proba-3, together with Pierrot Greff, a veteran space engineer with decades of experience in satellite system integration, launchers, solar array technology, and space mechanisms. The company was selected in November 2022 by the ESA Business Incubation Centre Czech Republic, receiving incubation support, and successfully concluded its ESA BIC incubation in November 2024.

SPACERACE specializes in electromechanical ground-test and flight-adjacent hardware for spacecraft mechanism development, specifically non-explosive, rapidly resettable hold-down and release actuators and their control and initiation electronics, plus compact preload and tensioning devices for hold-down and release mechanisms. Its stated mission is to make ground testing and qualification of space mechanisms faster and cheaper than legacy single-use or slow-refurbishment release devices, while maintaining reliability and cleanroom compatibility.

The company's product line centers on the ATLAS22 ground-test release actuator, the ATLAS ICU initiation control unit, and UNIKA, a compact preload/tensioning device for hold-down and release mechanisms currently under ESA GSTP development. SPACERACE has exhibited at Space Tech Expo Europe in Bremen, Paris Space Week, and Czech Space Week, with JIC and ESA as institutional partners.