Launch service provider RFA fires full-scale staged combustion engine for first time in Europe and secures its position as technological leader in the new space launch vehicle domain.
Augsburg, Germany, 21.06.2021 Launch service provider Rocket Factory Augsburg has demonstrated its technological leadership with its successful firing tests of its full-scale staged combustion engine. During the 2-second test, which was carried out in Kiruna (Sweden), RFA successfully commissioned the first staged combustion engine in Western Europe. Staged combustion technology is characterized by higher efficiencies and performances compared to traditional rocket engine designs. The partially unburnt exhaust gases from the turbopump are fed back to the main combustion chamber, thereby avoiding the release of unburned fuel. The recycling of the exhaust gases significantly increases the overall efficiency of the launch vehicle while reducing launch costs and also minimizing CO2-footprints of the launch activity. This ground-breaking achievement allows RFA to offer unmatched prices, putting them ahead in the global race for low-cost space launch.
“The successful test of our full-scale staged combustion engine reinforces our claim for market leadership,” said Dr. Stefan Brieschenk, the company’s Chief Operating Officer. “Our technology allows us to carry 30 percent more payload into space at the same cost to the customer”, adds Jörn Spurmann, RFA’s Chief Commercial Officer.
Two planned milestones were already reached at the beginning of May of this year. In the so-called “power-pack test”, the turbopump and pre-burner were started and operated in a stable, steady-state thermo-mechanical condition for a total burn-time of 8 seconds. In the next development step, the first ignitions of the main combustion chamber were conducted, after which the test team connected the “power pack” to all systems of the full-scale engine and performed the complete system-level test.
RFA stands-out as the ninth company worldwide to have successfully tested a full-scale rocket engine using staged combustion. Staged combustion is the technological backbone of some of the world’s most successfully space companies and to this point, was limited to the United States, Russia, China, India, Japan and Ukraine. The US companies SpaceX and Blue Origin were the latest private companies to have developed this sophisticated technology with the “Raptor” full-flow staged combustion engine and “BE-4” staged combustion engine.
About RFA
Rocket Factory Augsburg was founded in 2018 with the mission to significantly reduce launch costs in the space industry. The company’s goal is to develop a launch vehicle prototype by the end of 2022 which can launch satellites into low Earth orbits on a weekly basis at unmatched prices. The RFA ONE launch vehicle combines three key competitive advantages: a highly cost-efficient architecture using industrial automation, lowest-possible development costs, precise in-orbit delivery and superior propulsion systems using staged combustion.
For more information, visit: www.rfa.space
Press Contact:
Dr. Ibrahim Ata
Tel.: +49 821 999576-21
Press Release
Email: ibrahim.ata@rfa.space
Tel.: +49 821 999576-21
Rocket Factory Augsburg AG
Berliner Allee 65
D-86153 Augsburg
Chairman of Supervisory Board: Jean-Jacques Dordain
Executive Board: Stefan Brieschenk, Jörn Spurmann
Headquarter: Augsburg
Place of jurisdiction: AG Augsburg, HRB 34251
Tax-ID: DE319402838
Interested in featuring us?
Copyright 2024 © All rights reserved.
If you’re interested in receiving our press kit, please enter your details below. We’ll review your request and get back to you ASAP.
If you’re interested in receiving access to our Payload Users Guide for our Redshift OTV, please enter your details below.
If you’re interested in receiving access to our Payload Users Guide for our RFA ONE, please enter your details below.
We will get back to you soon.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Undefined cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.