Air-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP) systems offer a potential solution for sustained spacecraft operations in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO), by utilizing atmospheric particles as propellant, thereby reducing dependence on onboard fuel. This work presents the design, feasibility, and orbital performance of the ABEP spacecraft EULO, intended to operate near 200 km with a high resolution optical Earth observation payload. A preliminary 550 kg spacecraft was designed to meet mass, power, and aerodynamic constraints while fitting within a UK based launcher, RS-1. The orbital performance of the satellite was simulated with a high-fidelity propagator coupled with a panel based aerodynamic force estimation method using gas-surface interaction models evaluated at each time step. This geometric framework, compared to a classic cannonball model, enables modelling of the

spacecraft’s attitude, which in this study was held constant and either aligned with the orbital velocity or the local flow. Simulations on a generic ABEP spacecraft highlighted that misalignments with the relative flow can significantly affect orbital stability, with some configurations experiencing de-orbiting due to such misalignments. Furthermore, the EULO spacecraft demonstrated sustained a simulated flight at 255 km, achieving a theoretical ground sampling distance of 0.38 m and requiring the intake to have a collection efficiency of 50%. Nevertheless, uncertainties in the aerodynamic modelling suggests that improving thruster performance will be essential to mitigate these uncertainties.