Patrick Egli is Co-Founder of Stellar Alpina AG, a Swiss deep-tech space startup pioneering rotating detonation rocket engines (RDREs) for next-generation in-space mobility.

Patrick is an alumnus of ARIS, the Academic Spaceflight Initiative Switzerland, where he led engine development within Project Hephaestus and helped shape a new generation of propulsion thinking in Switzerland.

Alongside his co-founders, Patrick contributed to developing the world's first student-built rotating detonation rocket engine in 2024, a milestone that directly seeded the founding of Stellar Alpina.

Stellar Alpina raised CHF 3.5M (approx. USD 4.5M) in pre-seed funding led by Founderful, with participation from deep-tech VC LP&E and strategic investors from across the space ecosystem.

Just 82 days after incorporation, the Stellar Alpina team completed Europe's first known commercial RDRE hotfire campaign, executing eight detonative hotfires and producing footage of up to five stable detonation waves.