In this article of The Rocket Spaceport, we ask the question “What would the space industry be like if more grassroots, upstart spacecraft firms/projects became more commonplace?”
The answer? There are two: 1) It would be fantastic and 2) IT IS REAL!!!
One perfect example exists in a small firm based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is called Copenhagen Suborbitals, or CS for short. As of 2017, it is the sole-existing crowd-funded, grassroots, amateur space program entrant into the Space Industry. And it has been amazingly (and refreshingly successful).
Historically, Scandinavia has a potent history of exploration and conquest (particularly the legendary Viking era), and from CS’s achievements it looks to have a similar effect on the world Space Industry as a whole. It wasn’t the Roman Empire with it’s vast armies (and overhead) that crossed the seas to get to North America (hundreds of years before Columbus by the way), but it was the dariing Scandinavian explorers that did so.
In a similar way, the modern-day Space Industry has long thrived and suffered under the mainstream corporate structure. The new competitive market has a valid place, particularly among rocket manufacturers like SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin and other emerging companies. For them however, they could still be bound to money and political whims and dealings which can (unintentally) stagnate the progress of the rocket programs if not forecast beforehand.
For the sake of pure Engineering accomplishment, free of some of these large-corporate trappings, it’s the grassroots/volunteer efforts that seem to make stronger/faster scientific & engineering sense. For example, the 55 (approximate) employees at CS are mostly volunteer, working their regular day jobs and lending their services to CS. And it has had amazing results. Development of the CS rocket fleet began in the late 2000’s. The first major flight of a CS rocket was in 2010, namely the unguided HEAT-1X launch vehicle.
Of particular importance to this launch vehicle was it’s payload, a small standing-only suborbital-manned spacecraft called Tycho Brahe (named for the famed Danish astronomer, and national of most of the CS staff).
This diagram shows the planned flight progression and the ultimate use of Tycho Brahe to fly one of the CS staff into space as an astronaut.
CS utilizes a floating barge which under favorable conditions is taken into the Baltic Sea and used as a launch platform for their family of rockets. This included the HEAT 1X flight and Tycho Brahe. Called MLP Sputnik, it is a two-hulled and self propelled ship for every CS rocket launched since 2010.
On June 3, 2011, after a launch abort the year before, HEAT-1X and an unmanned Tycho Brahe launched from MLP Sputnik’s launch pad, but the flight was aborted after the flight path deviated from vertical (straight up) and began to go horizontal (given that it was a traditional, unguided amateur rocket and did not have guidance control like the future launches had).
Tycho Brahe was recovered but experienced significant damage. The space capsule was ultimately discontinued due to concerns about pilot G-force overload due to being in a standing (versus traditional sitting position).
The rockets and launches since then are further steps in the direction of building fully-guided rockets. Subsequent rockets such as Nexo I, Nexo II, SMARAGD, and Sapphire were smaller than the Heat-1X but were built to test fully-functioning guidance systems, flight termination systems, staging events, thrust vector control, communications, GPS positioning, and flight-path control.
In similar fashion, CS has tested some other flight capsules meant to build upon the Tycho Brahe concept.
One involved a larger capsule called Tycho Deep Space which is shaped like a conical cylindar similar to the NASA Apollo spacecraft. One flight test to analyze the LAS (or launch abort system) was conducted a few years ago with partial success.
One of CS’s greatest successes came with the launch of the Sapphire-1 rocket in 2013. It is the smallest rocket launched thus far, but it is to date the most technologically-advanced rocket CS has flown.
It had avionics (or airborne electronics) with technology on par with many well-known rocket launch vehicles from larger corporations and the flight was highly successful. The knowledge and data gained from this flight will be useful to the CS’s intended crown achievement to come . . . the SPICA rocket.
Unlike the HEAT-1X launch and first Tycho Brahe manned capsule, this rocket will incorporate the avionics, communications, and system tests seen in the SMARAGD, Sapphire, Nexo-1, and the upcoming Nexo-2 launches.
With the advancements and lessons learned from previous flights leading up to it, the plan is to launch a single astronaut above the Karman line, or the legal boundary of outer space currently at around 62 miles above sea level. Unlike the original Tycho Brahe capsule, there is enough room for an astronaut to remain seated.
This is a timeline of all flights made by CS to date. The one labeled “Nexo-II” is slated to launch in early to mid September (per CS’s main website posting).
For a small, non-profit firm like Copenhagen Suborbitals, they have obtained significant, unsung achievements in the pursuit of Space flight:
- They produced the most powerful amateur rocket flown to date.
- The HEAT-1X was the first amateur rocket flown with a full size mockup of a space capsule with a human test dummy onboard.
- The first Main Engine Cut Off command (abbreviated as MECO) sent to an amateur rocket that was received and performed.
- Elaborate sea launch handling and logistics by a small-budget and non-profit group.
- For these achievements, CS was awarded the “Breitling Milestone Trophy” award by The World Air Sports Federation at a 2013 ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Copenhagen Suborbitals has had a short but very productive and exciting streak of success. Not just in getting man to space, but how they are going about it, namely through unpaid volunteers, enthusiasm, love of spaceflight, straight-forward engineering (minus politics), and crowdfunding. To help finance their efforts, please click HERE_FUND_CS to go to their crowdfund donation page, and to see their next rocket launch of the Nexo-II, go to their schedule page HERE to get the latest updates.
For The Great Galactic Space Gimmick, I’m Gimmick Commander Ben Faltinowski! 🙂
© Ben Faltinowski and The Great Galactic Space Gimmick, 2017, authorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ben Faltinowski and The Great Galactic Space Gimmick with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
DISCLAIMER: The info and pics provided in this article came from public postings from various sources on the web on Copenhagen Suborbitals, their company, and their family of rockets. These were used for discussion and informative purposes only, and also to give acclaim to the company for their incredible achievements and encourage financial crowd-funding support for their endeavors. It is believed this constitutes fair use.