Space / HyImpulse agrees deal for suborbital launch from SaxaVord later this year
A GERMAN rocket company has signed a deal with SaxaVord Spaceport to carry out its first launch from European soil later this year.
HyImpulse has agreed a launch deal with the Unst spaceport, with the aim of a suborbital launch in quarter three of 2026.
It will be the second launch of the company’s SR75 suborbital launch vehicle following a successful lift-off in Australia in 2024, which used a hybrid propulsion system involving paraffin “candle wax” and liquid oxygen.
HyImpulse said that initial launch, from Koonibba, showed the vehicle could demonstrate “stable flight validating system performance under operational conditions”.
Under the agreement, SaxaVord will provide launch infrastructure and operational support for the launch of the SR75.
It also comes with the first launch from SaxaVord expected imminently from Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), with SaxaVord preparing people for the opportunity to view the launch up close.
Unst folk to be given first opportunity to view SaxaVord launches
The SR75 mission from SaxaVord will provide institutional and commercial customers with “reliable access to high-altitude, hypersonic speed and microgravity environments while reinforcing Europe’s capacity to conduct launches from its own territory”.
The launch vehicle can reach altitudes of up to 200 kilometres and carries payloads of up to 250kg, with a “two-stage parachute recovery system enabling reliable payload recovery”.
It is powered by a hybrid engine which uses paraffin-based solid fuel, described by HyImpulse as “both cost-effective and inherently safe”, and liquid oxygen.
“This innovative design significantly simplifies the construction of launch vehicles, cutting costs by a remarkable 40 percent compared to traditional propulsion systems,” it added.
The company’s co-founder and chief executive Dr Christian Schmierer said the SaxaVord launch was the “next step in our roadmap”.
SaxaVord chief Scott Hammond called the agreement the “culmination of our long-standing partnership with HyImpulse”, adding it “further strengthens SaxaVord’s position at the vanguard of UK vertical space launch”.
“We look forward to working with the HyImpulse team in support of this mission and further expanding launch activity from our spaceport.”
HyImpulse manufactures both suborbital and orbital launch vehicles, with more than 90 employees working at locations in Neuenstadt, Ottobrunn and Glasgow.
RFA has said its first test launch from SaxaVord Spaceport is planned for this summer, with the first and second ‘stages’ of its ONE launch vehicle having been delivered to the spaceport.
The first stage was newly built and tested in Augsburg before being delivered to the launch site at SaxaVord in February, where it will be further integrated with its rocket engines.
The nine Helix engines are currently being tested in Sweden and are being delivered to SaxaVord on a rolling basis.
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