Manuel Cuba, Managing Director of Helix Space
Please introduce yourself to our AmCham readers.
My name is Manuel Cuba, born in 1976 in Lima, Peru. I studied at Markham College, a bilingual school in Lima, and then obtained my Bachelor and Master of Science in Industrial Engineering at the University of Lima.
I left Peru in 2009 for the International Space University (ISU) Summer Session Programme at NASA Ames, which opened me the doors to the space ecosystem.
After the SSP ended I went to Strasbourg, France, to do a Master in Space Management, also at ISU. During the master I did my internship at SES, which led to a contract after graduation.
I stayed in SES until 2021 working on several Defence, Security and Resilience (DSR) projects; afterwards we opened Helix Space, where I am co-founder and Managing Director.
In two lines, please tell us what Helix Space does.
Helix Space provides Business and Engineering services to the European and Luxembourgish Aerospace & Defence ecosystem.
Please explain us in detail the services that you provide.
We provide three services. First, we help companies obtain public and private funding from national programmes such as LuxImpulse, or from private investors such as Angel communities or VCs.
Second, we assist companies develop their product through leading incubators and accelerators in Europe.
Finally, our third service is to help EDF beneficiaries deliver their commitments to EDF projects in the field of cybersecurity.
How did you come to deliver these services?
We are a customer oriented-company and believers of the Total Customer Experience (TCE), a mantra I learned from my time in Hewlett-Packard. The whole company: set-up, structure services, IT environment, training programme, etc, is focused on delivering value to our customers.
And has this strategy brought tangible results? Sounds nice on paper but…
We are growing 70-80% YoY and reached maximum use of our capacity. On top we have a debt ratio of 0.3, a great gross and net margin, and a rolling contracted backlog of 12 months.
How many people are involved in the company?
Currently three people; I, as Managing Director, responsible for sales and delivery.
Then there is my co-founder, Dr. Maike Aurich, who acts as Technical Advisor for our R&D department, called Space Translational Medicine.
Finally, a contractor who is an expert in the mining sector and helps us in our activities with the European Space Resources Innovation Centre.
On top, this year we plan to on board an intern, an additional contractor and an FTE.
To whom do you offer your services?
Companies and public organizations in Luxembourg and Europe. In the case of our Funding services, we work directly with SMEs and Enterprises who want to raise money from public or private sources to develop new capabilities. For example, we are currently working with a SME in Luxembourg that is looking to raise EUR 50+M for a DSR-related service that we plan to launch (literally) by 2028.
In the case of our Innovation services, we work with leading incubators and accelerators in Luxembourg and Europe. In Luxembourg we work with Luxinnovation’s Fit4Start – Space programme, where I am coach, and the European Space Resources Innovation Center (ESRIC) Start-up Support Programme (SSP), where I am the Business Advisor for its beneficiaries.
In Europe we work with the European Defence Fund (EDF) European Union Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS), where we help EDF beneficiaries achieve their business goals, the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) Learning Platform, and the CASSINI Hackathons and Mentoring programme.
Finally, in the case of our Cybersecurity services, we have helped LuxTrust deliver their commitments in the EDF Single European Sky InterOPerability (SESIOP) project, a Research Activity whose goal was to increase the interoperability of civil and military command and control systems.
Overall, we have helped 45 start-ups and 11 SMEs and Enterprises. In terms of funding, we have helped them raise EUR 3.1M in public and private funds and will help them raise an additional EUR60+ million by 2027.
What about Space Translational Medicine? It is in your website, but you have not mentioned it.
The original mission of Helix Space is to use existing and future research infrastructure on Earth’s orbit to develop and commercialise biomolecules, biomaterials, and nutritional supplements for preventive and therapeutic management of human and veterinary diseases on Earth.
We call this activity Space Translational Medicine (STM). Our initial plan was to fund this activity via the revenue generated by our services.
That plan has been put 95% on-hold for a variety of reasons; the main one is that there is such a demand for our services that we do not have the time to focus on STM.
We still do some activities but mostly testing the reliability of the supply chain. In parallel, we keep the Luxembourg Space Agency updated of our progress.
You mentioned mining. How is that related to Aerospace & Defence?
There are critical materials needed for Aerospace & Defence such as antimony. Antimony is a critical element for ammunition, electronics and explosives, among other uses. We are currently exploring opportunities in Europe with our mining expert.
For example, in the US there is a company called US Antimony that has a smelter. They suspended mining in 1983 since it was cheaper to buy it abroad. Well, guess what, they will start onshoring the mining of antimony from their main site in Montana. In the meantime, they use suppliers from the Americas, Europe and Australia.
We should do something similar; member of Parliament Laurent Mosar (CSV) just proposed the launch of a government-backed rare earths funds. I think it is a brilliant idea. We should use these funds not only to invest in mines in Europe, but also in countries that share our democratic values and are committed to comply with environmental law.
Such a network of mines is a key factor to maintain our industrial backbone and ensure the development of our technology value chain.
If an American company would like to establish a subsidiary in Luxembourg, what opportunities exist in Space & Defence?
For space the three main ones are ESA, EUSPA and EUMETSAT; a common misconception from the other side of the Atlantic is that they are the same due to the E, for Europe, but they are not. They have different mandates and different procurement portals.
In brief, ESA’s focus is R&D in a wide number of fields such as satellite communications (SATCOM), Earth Observation (EO), Positioning – Navigation – Timing (PNT), launch, cybersecurity, space resources, planetary protection, and space situational awareness, among others.
They continuously publish tenders in these fields, which can be fully funded or partially funded (up to 80% for SMEs).
Please note that there are two huge programmes being pushed forward by ESA: IRIS², a dual-use LEO SATCOM satellite constellation that should be operational by 2030, and the European Resilience from Space (ERS) system-of-systems, which integrates EO, SATCOM and PNT.
If you are interested in ESA contracts, I recommend attending one of the main ESA events such as the ESA Industry Space Days in Noordwijk.
Speaking of ESA, if an American company sets up a R&D subsidiary in Luxembourg, they have access to a wonderful national programme called LuxImpulse, which is run in collaboration between the Luxembourg Space Agency and ESA.
Two examples are Lunar Outpost, whose HQ is in Golden, Colorado, and has a subsidiary in Foetz, Luxembourg, and Redwire, whose HQ is in Jacksonville, Florida, and has a subsidiary in Gasperich, Luxembourg.
Other American companies that have crossed the pond are Astroport, Blue Origin, Bradford Space, Hydrosat and Spire. I hope that we can increase this number through future activities at the AmCham Luxembourg Space & Defence committee.
In the case of EUSPA, they operate the space and ground infrastructure of programmes such as Galileo (PNT), Copernicus (EO) and GOVSATCOM. I recommend attending their annual event in Prague, Czech Republic.
Finally, EUMETSAT oversees the operation of the space and ground infrastructure for Europe’s meteorological satellites. Their annual conference is in Darmstadt, Germany.
For Defence, the main option is the EDF which makes an annual call for Research (fully funded, up to TRL 4) and Development (partially funded, up to TRL 7) activities. I recommend attending the EDF information days in Brussels to have a sense of how the programme works and network with European industry.
There are other options, but those doors open once you have proven that you have the resources, expertise and commitment to European defence.
And what if a Luxembourgish company wants to access opportunities in the US?
There is the misconception that you must have an office in the US to access its market. That is not the case. You can access the US market in two ways. The first one is via a US company that already has a contract with a federal agency (e.g. NASA, NOAA, Space Force, US Space Command – USSPACECOM) or a state-level agency. I know this because one of our customers is doing exactly that.
The second way is directly with a US agency, which is rather new. For example, the Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Tracking Program (TacSRT) is a programme from the US Space Force Space Systems Command (do not confuse it with USSPACECOM).
The goal of TacSRT is to provide a rapid, dynamic and competitive acquisition process for US and international commercial vendors to receive taskings and deliver analytical products that meet the needs of war fighters. They do this through the Global Data Marketplace, where non-US service providers can register and offer their services.
TacSRT is not the only one. As mentioned at the 2025 SpaceCom event acquisition panel, there is a vast number of resources online, especially YouTube, where they explain the different programmes and opportunities out there. I recommend any interested party to invest some time watching these videos and reading the press releases of Space Force and Space Command before attending a relevant event in the US.
Of course, we offer all this knowledge to our customers as part of our services.
What are the short-term plans for Helix Space?
On top of growing our revenue and expanding our workforce, we are negotiating several contracts with European companies to help them with their R&D and sales pipeline.
We are also extending our geographic reach to the US. Although we have been a corporate sponsor of The Space Show, the longest running live podcast on Space, for a few years, we are now ramping up our activities with them.
The plan is to bring one stakeholder of the Luxembourgish ecosystem every quarter. The latest one was Guy Schuman, CEO and founder of RSS-Hydro, a fantastic growth story in Luxembourg and which I have the honour of being part of.
On top we have an agreement with the Sul Ross University in Alpine, Texas, to help its students from their MBA in Space Commerce.
At the end of their programme the students must develop a business plan for a space enterprise. We will help them develop that business plan via online sessions and guide them for opportunities in the US and Europe.
I must add that the MBA in Space Commerce from Sul Ross is online, fully accredited and quite affordable; it is perfect for space professionals who already have a few years of experience and cannot leave their jobs/family for continuing their education.
Finally, we plan to attend the 2026 AIAA Ascend conference in Washington D.C. The goal is to learn, in-situ, more about the different US programmes that our customers can access and expand our network.
Before we finish the interview, any book recommendations in Aerospace & Defence?
Three books. Norman R. Augustine’s “Augustine’s Laws”, Arthur L. Herman “Freedom’s Forge”, and Walter Isaacson’s “The Innovators”. The latter is not strictly Aerospace & Defence, but the IT revolution in the US was fuelled by the military and it is a recurring topic in the book. For example, Jerry Wozniak, Steve Wozniak’s father was an electrical engineer at Lockheed Missiles & Space. He was the one who taught his son how to build things.
Thanks for your time, Manuel. Do you have a final word for our readers?
Kaizen.
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