Copenhagen Suborbitals
Encyclopedia
Copenhagen Suborbitals is a non-profit organization working towards suborbital manned spaceflight. Founded in 2008 by Kristian von Bengtson
and Peter Madsen
the project has accomplished a successful sea launch
of a test hybrid rocket
, carrying a full scale human model
. This test was performed in june 2011 on a sea going mobile launch platform in the baltic sea, but had to be aborted 21 seconds into the flight where the rocket had reached an altitude of 2.8 km. Based in Copenhagen
, Denmark
and working on open source
princples the funding for the project is donations and sponsoring, the organization is working with the stated goal of showing how space flight can be done outside governments and large corporations. The approach used by the group is is to minimize complexity by using the simplest possible solutions, such as solving problems with mechanical solutions over electronical solutions and working to avoid paperwork by using lightly regulated technology.
and Peter Madsen
, as an open source and non-profit project where important aspects of the operation are described in detail on blogs and lectures and funding is gathered through donations and sponsorships. Within the project von Bengtson is responsible for the design and construction of the spacecrafts. He is an architect
and has participated in various space projects, design of new moon rovers and co-author of NASA
's new Human Integration Design Handbook.
Peter Madsen
is responsible for the rocket engines. He is an inventor, artist and entrepreneur. Before forming CS, he built 3 submarines; Freya (2002), Kraka (2005) and UC3 Nautilus
(2008).
Besides the founders several specialists contribute with work
In total, the group includes, as of Aug 2011, 22 people with various skills.
affected solely by gravity, within which the occupant will feel weightlessness
. Gravity will then pull the MicroSpaceCraft back into the atmosphere, where the MSC be decelerated by parachutes and land on water.
If successful, Denmark will be the fourth nation to launch humans above the Kármán line
which is the boundary to outer space, after Russia, USA and China.
Peter Madsen is scheduled for the first flight, then Kristian von Bengtson will attempt a low earth orbit
mission.
. On 1 August 2009 they relocated to its base and office on Refshaleøen, the old Burmeister & Wain
shipyard, in Copenhagen
. Their main workshop is in the HAB (Horisontal Assembly Building) and they have recently added a VAB
to their structures. For the sea launches the group has build a mobile launch platform called Sputnik.
, using liquid oxygen
(LOX) as oxidizer and originally HEAT was to have been fuelled with paraffin wax, but a ground test 28 February 2010 revealed that some of the paraffin wax had only partially melted, instead of evaporating. The result was that HEAT-1X had less power than expected. A ground test firing of HEAT-1X-P (P for polyurethane
) was conducted 16 May 2010. It was positive, the polyurethane had the right power but showed heavy oscillation
. As of 2011 the group has performed more than 30 tests of various engine types at their rocket engine test facility
at Refshaleøen
.
, intended to launch the MSC Tycho Brahe into space, the combination being known as HEAT-1X TYCHO BRAHE.
The rocket design is the result of numerous static booster tests of the solid fuel epoxy
and the liquid oxidizer nitrous oxide
. A combination which was also used in the scale-down test rocket HATV (Hybrid Atmospheric Test Vehicle) which is only 1/3 size of the HEAT.
Stabilization of the rocket is by rolleron
s, a mechanism also used to stabilize missiles. The rocket was successfully launched 3 June 2011 but the test was aborted at an altitude of 2.8 km.
after the danish astronomer
, has a steel pressure hull, with room for one passenger. The passenger will be able to view the outside through a perspex dome. The occupant will fly in a half-standing/half-sitting position, in a specially designed seat, and wearing a anti-G trousers
to avoid blackout
. Another compartment contains both the high-speed drogue parachute and the low-speed main parachutes for deceleration. The sheer volume of the MSC will provide the buoyancy in the water upon touchdown.
The first MSC has been christened "Tycho Brahe 1" and its first flight was unmanned using a crash test dummy
. A new aluminum MSC called MAX-1
named after Maxime Faget
is under development.
like Andøya
, Kiruna
or Iceland
The focus however turned towards a sea launch, just outside the territorial waters of Denmark.
A permission to launch was given by Danish authorities, but the first option, the North Sea
, a possibility suggested by Danish Civil Aviation Administration (Statens Luftfartsvæsen), was rejected in 2009 by the Danish Maritime Authority (Søfartsstyrelsen). They preferred another area and then gave a formal and written permission to launch from the military firing range ESD138/ESD139, which is located on the position 55°02′57"N 15°36′11"E in the Baltic Sea
.
It is just outside Nexø
on the Danish island of Bornholm
and is therefore nicknamed Spaceport Nexø. The CS then had to build a floating mobile launcher platform
(MLP), called Sputnik after the Russian spacecraft
which was the first artificial satellite to be put into orbit.
Their launch campaigns includes the following ships:
between 30 August and 13 September 2010. The vehicle carried a crash test dummy
"Rescue Randy" instead of a human pilot, with manned flight not planed for some years. The success criteria was the completion of the sea voyage and countdown with launch and recovery planned as a bonus.
On Tuesday 31 August 2010, the privately-built Danish submarine
UC3 Nautilus
pushed the launch platform Sputnik carrying the rocket and spacecraft from Copenhagen towards the launch area near Nexø
, Bornholm
.
A launch attempt was made on Sunday 5 September 2010 14:43 CEST
, but the motor could not be started due to a failure of the LOX
valve which is assumed to be caused by insufficient heating of the valve. The design famously included a consumer hair dryer for defrosting the LOX-valve, in effects it was not the blow-dryer but its power supply that failed.
The group promised to come back the year after to attempt the launch again.
The second launch attempt was more successful and the maiden flight took place 3 June 2011, at , 16:32 local time (CEST) (14:32 GMT). The Heat-1X rocket lifted off and ascended to an altitude of only 2.8 km, because Mission Control had to shut the engine off after 21 seconds. Although there were problems with the parachutes, the HEAT 1X Tycho BraheTycho Brahe was recovered and the flight produced useful data for subsequent development of the program.
tower. A test launch is planned for the summer of 2012.
Other plans include:
On October 5th, 2010 a independent group of space enthusiasts founded the Copenhagen Suborbitals Support group (CSS). The main purpose of this group is to "support CS economically, morally and practically in their mission". Within two days after its founding, CSS reached 100 members. November 15th, 2011 marked a major milestone for CSS as 500 members was reached.
By paying a fixed monthly amount, the members of Copenhagen Suborbitals Support now covers all the fixed costs of continuing the project as well as donating various hardware.
Kristian von Bengtson
Kristian von Bengtson is a Danish architect, specializing in manned spaceflight, a resident of Copenhagen and married with animation director Karla von Bengtson...
and Peter Madsen
Peter Madsen
Peter Planch Madsen is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Lyngby Boldklub on loan from Brøndby IF...
the project has accomplished a successful sea launch
Rocket launch
A rocket launch is the takeoff phase of the flight of a rocket. Launches for orbital spaceflights, or launches into interplanetary space, are usually from a fixed location on the ground, but may also be from a floating platform such as the San Marco platform, or the Sea Launch launch...
of a test hybrid rocket
Hybrid rocket
A hybrid rocket is a rocket with a rocket motor which uses propellants in two different states of matter - one solid and the other either gas or liquid. The Hybrid rocket concept can be traced back at least 75 years....
, carrying a full scale human model
Crash test dummy
Crash test dummies are full-scale anthropomorphic test devices that simulate the dimensions, weight proportions and articulation of the human body, and are usually instrumented to record data about the dynamic behavior of the ATD in simulated vehicle impacts...
. This test was performed in june 2011 on a sea going mobile launch platform in the baltic sea, but had to be aborted 21 seconds into the flight where the rocket had reached an altitude of 2.8 km. Based in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and working on open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
princples the funding for the project is donations and sponsoring, the organization is working with the stated goal of showing how space flight can be done outside governments and large corporations. The approach used by the group is is to minimize complexity by using the simplest possible solutions, such as solving problems with mechanical solutions over electronical solutions and working to avoid paperwork by using lightly regulated technology.
Background
CS as the project is commonly referred to was founded in 2008 by Kristian von BengtsonKristian von Bengtson
Kristian von Bengtson is a Danish architect, specializing in manned spaceflight, a resident of Copenhagen and married with animation director Karla von Bengtson...
and Peter Madsen
Peter Madsen (Inventor)
Peter Madsen is an Artist, Aerospace engineer, Entrepreneur and founder of Copenhagen Suborbitals; a private spaceflight company.-Work on UC3 Nautilus:...
, as an open source and non-profit project where important aspects of the operation are described in detail on blogs and lectures and funding is gathered through donations and sponsorships. Within the project von Bengtson is responsible for the design and construction of the spacecrafts. He is an architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and has participated in various space projects, design of new moon rovers and co-author of NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's new Human Integration Design Handbook.
Peter Madsen
Peter Madsen (Inventor)
Peter Madsen is an Artist, Aerospace engineer, Entrepreneur and founder of Copenhagen Suborbitals; a private spaceflight company.-Work on UC3 Nautilus:...
is responsible for the rocket engines. He is an inventor, artist and entrepreneur. Before forming CS, he built 3 submarines; Freya (2002), Kraka (2005) and UC3 Nautilus
UC3 Nautilus
UC3 Nautilus is a privately-built Danish submarine. It was launched on 3 May 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was built over a three year period as an art/hobby project by Peter Madsen and a group of volunteers, and cost approximately US$200,000 to build .This submarine was Peter Madsen's third...
(2008).
Besides the founders several specialists contribute with work
- Thomas Scherrer, Spacecraft electronics, comm-link.
- Claus Nørregaard, Certified pyrotechnician.
- Christian Ravn, Physicist
- Niels Foldager, Space medicine, Dept. Flight Director.
- Kristian Elof Sørensen, MLP-Sputnik Captain.
- André Christensen, Recovery lead and Area control.
In total, the group includes, as of Aug 2011, 22 people with various skills.
Suborbital space flight
From the launch site a rocket engine module, will carry a manned module called MicroSpaceCraft (MSC) near the 100 km boundary and into space. The two modules will detach and the MSC will follow a trajectoryTrajectory
A trajectory is the path that a moving object follows through space as a function of time. The object might be a projectile or a satellite, for example. It thus includes the meaning of orbit—the path of a planet, an asteroid or a comet as it travels around a central mass...
affected solely by gravity, within which the occupant will feel weightlessness
Weightlessness
Weightlessness is the condition that exists for an object or person when they experience little or no acceleration except the acceleration that defines their inertial trajectory, or the trajectory of pure free-fall...
. Gravity will then pull the MicroSpaceCraft back into the atmosphere, where the MSC be decelerated by parachutes and land on water.
If successful, Denmark will be the fourth nation to launch humans above the Kármán line
Karman line
The Kármán line lies at an altitude of above the Earth's sea level, and is commonly used to define the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space...
which is the boundary to outer space, after Russia, USA and China.
Peter Madsen is scheduled for the first flight, then Kristian von Bengtson will attempt a low earth orbit
Low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km...
mission.
Facilities
CS started on a barge called M/S Halfmachine in Port of CopenhagenPort of Copenhagen
The Port of Copenhagen is the largest Danish seaport and one of the largest ports in the Baltic Sea basin, with a total annual traffic capacity of around 18.3 million tonnes of cargo.-Statistics:...
. On 1 August 2009 they relocated to its base and office on Refshaleøen, the old Burmeister & Wain
Burmeister & Wain
Burmeister & Wain was a large established Danish shipyard and leading diesel engine producer headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded by two Danes and an Englishman, its earliest roots stretch back to 1846. Over its 150-year history, it grew successfully into a strong company through the end...
shipyard, in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
. Their main workshop is in the HAB (Horisontal Assembly Building) and they have recently added a VAB
Vehicle Assembly Building
The Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center was used to assemble and house American manned launch vehicles from 1968-2011. It is the fourth largest building in the world by volume...
to their structures. For the sea launches the group has build a mobile launch platform called Sputnik.
Rocket engines
Propellant
The Group has decided to use a hybrid rocketHybrid rocket
A hybrid rocket is a rocket with a rocket motor which uses propellants in two different states of matter - one solid and the other either gas or liquid. The Hybrid rocket concept can be traced back at least 75 years....
, using liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen — abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries — is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen.-Physical properties:...
(LOX) as oxidizer and originally HEAT was to have been fuelled with paraffin wax, but a ground test 28 February 2010 revealed that some of the paraffin wax had only partially melted, instead of evaporating. The result was that HEAT-1X had less power than expected. A ground test firing of HEAT-1X-P (P for polyurethane
Polyurethane
A polyurethane is any polymer composed of a chain of organic units joined by carbamate links. Polyurethane polymers are formed through step-growth polymerization, by reacting a monomer with another monomer in the presence of a catalyst.Polyurethanes are...
) was conducted 16 May 2010. It was positive, the polyurethane had the right power but showed heavy oscillation
Oscillation
Oscillation is the repetitive variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value or between two or more different states. Familiar examples include a swinging pendulum and AC power. The term vibration is sometimes used more narrowly to mean a mechanical oscillation but sometimes...
. As of 2011 the group has performed more than 30 tests of various engine types at their rocket engine test facility
Rocket engine test facility
A rocket engine test facility is a location where rocket engines may be tested on the ground, under controlled conditions. A ground test program is generally required before the engine is certified for flight...
at Refshaleøen
Refshaleøen, Copenhagen
Refshaleøen is an island in Copenhagen's harbor, which until 1996 housed the shipyard Burmeister & Wain. At its height, the shipyard employed 8,000 employees, and so appears as an icon of Danish industrial history....
.
HATV
The HATV (Hybrid Atmospheric Test Vehicle) is a 220 mm diameter hybrid booster, used for testing purposes, it is 1/3 the size of the HEAT rocket. It produces approximately 12 kN thrust within a combustion time of 20 seconds.HEAT
HEAT 1X (Hybrid Exo Atmospheric Transporter) is the rocket booster moduleLaunch vehicle
In spaceflight, a launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket used to carry a payload from the Earth's surface into outer space. A launch system includes the launch vehicle, the launch pad and other infrastructure....
, intended to launch the MSC Tycho Brahe into space, the combination being known as HEAT-1X TYCHO BRAHE.
The rocket design is the result of numerous static booster tests of the solid fuel epoxy
Resin
Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
and the liquid oxidizer nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
. A combination which was also used in the scale-down test rocket HATV (Hybrid Atmospheric Test Vehicle) which is only 1/3 size of the HEAT.
Stabilization of the rocket is by rolleron
Rolleron
A rolleron is a type of aileron used for rockets, placed at the trailing end of each fin, and used for passive stabilization against rotation. Inherent to the rolleron is a metal wheel with notches along the circumference. On one side, the notches protrude into the airflow. During flight, this will...
s, a mechanism also used to stabilize missiles. The rocket was successfully launched 3 June 2011 but the test was aborted at an altitude of 2.8 km.
Micro Spacecraft
The MSC, named Tycho BraheTycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe , born Tyge Ottesen Brahe, was a Danish nobleman known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations...
after the danish astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
, has a steel pressure hull, with room for one passenger. The passenger will be able to view the outside through a perspex dome. The occupant will fly in a half-standing/half-sitting position, in a specially designed seat, and wearing a anti-G trousers
G-suit
A G-suit, or the more accurately named anti-G suit, is worn by aviators and astronauts who are subject to high levels of acceleration force . It is designed to prevent a black-out and G-LOC caused by the blood pooling in the lower part of the body when under acceleration, thus depriving the...
to avoid blackout
G-LOC
G-LOC, pronounced 'GEE-lock', is the abbreviation of G-force induced Loss Of Consciousness, a term generally used in aerospace physiology to describe a loss of consciousness occurring from excessive and sustained g-forces draining blood away from the brain causing cerebral hypoxia...
. Another compartment contains both the high-speed drogue parachute and the low-speed main parachutes for deceleration. The sheer volume of the MSC will provide the buoyancy in the water upon touchdown.
The first MSC has been christened "Tycho Brahe 1" and its first flight was unmanned using a crash test dummy
Crash test dummy
Crash test dummies are full-scale anthropomorphic test devices that simulate the dimensions, weight proportions and articulation of the human body, and are usually instrumented to record data about the dynamic behavior of the ATD in simulated vehicle impacts...
. A new aluminum MSC called MAX-1
MAX-1 (Spacecraft)
The MAX-1 is a manned spacecraft being developed by Copenhagen Suborbitals. The MAX-1 is designed to be similar to the Mercury spacecraft.For decent it uses a parachute which deploys from the top of the spacecraft. The ingress/egress hatch is placed above the head of the astronaut and can be opened...
named after Maxime Faget
Maxime Faget
Maxime "Max" A. Faget was the designer of the Mercury capsule, and contributed to the later Gemini and Apollo spacecraft as well as the Space Shuttle.- Life :...
is under development.
Launch campaigns
The group originally focused on launching from a land based spaceportSpaceport
A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching spacecraft, by analogy with seaport for ships or airport for aircraft. The word spaceport, and even more so cosmodrome, has traditionally been used for sites capable of launching spacecraft into orbit around Earth or on interplanetary trajectories...
like Andøya
Andøya Rocket Range
Andøya Rocket Range is a rocket launch site and rocket range on Andøya island in Andøy municipality in northern Norway...
, Kiruna
North European Aerospace Test range
North European Aerospace Test range is Europe's largest overland test range for aerospace systems.It is a co-operation by the Swedish Space Corporation and Swedish Defence Materiel Administration....
or Iceland
Naval Air Station Keflavik
United States Naval Air Station Keflavik is a former NATO facility at Keflavík International Airport, Iceland. It is located on the Reykjanes peninsula on the south-west portion of the island...
The focus however turned towards a sea launch, just outside the territorial waters of Denmark.
A permission to launch was given by Danish authorities, but the first option, the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, a possibility suggested by Danish Civil Aviation Administration (Statens Luftfartsvæsen), was rejected in 2009 by the Danish Maritime Authority (Søfartsstyrelsen). They preferred another area and then gave a formal and written permission to launch from the military firing range ESD138/ESD139, which is located on the position 55°02′57"N 15°36′11"E in the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
.
It is just outside Nexø
Nexø
Nexø is a town on the eastern coast of the Baltic island of Bornholm, Denmark. With a population of 3,762 , it is the second largest town, as well as the largest fishing port on the island. Fishing is the mainstay of the town economy. Nexø is also the site of a distillery and a mustard factory...
on the Danish island of Bornholm
Bornholm
Bornholm is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea located to the east of the rest of Denmark, the south of Sweden, and the north of Poland. The main industries on the island include fishing, arts and crafts like glass making and pottery using locally worked clay, and dairy farming. Tourism is...
and is therefore nicknamed Spaceport Nexø. The CS then had to build a floating mobile launcher platform
Mobile Launcher Platform
The Mobile Launcher Platform or MLP is one of three two-story structures used by NASA to support the Space Shuttle stack during its transportation from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center as well as serve as the vehicle's launch platform...
(MLP), called Sputnik after the Russian spacecraft
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 ) was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1s success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space...
which was the first artificial satellite to be put into orbit.
Their launch campaigns includes the following ships:
- MLP-Sputnik, at first had to be towed, but later it had two diesel engines installed, and now sails under her own power.
- MHV Hjortø, a Naval Home Guard vessel who serves as Mission Control and recovery vessel.
- Two small rigid-hulled inflatable boatsRigid-hulled inflatable boatA rigid-hulled inflatable boat, or rigid-inflatable boat is a light-weight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a solid, shaped hull and flexible tubes at the gunwale. The design is stable and seaworthy...
.
2010: The first launch attempt
The first full-scale test-launch to 30 km altitude was planned to be off the coast of BornholmBornholm
Bornholm is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea located to the east of the rest of Denmark, the south of Sweden, and the north of Poland. The main industries on the island include fishing, arts and crafts like glass making and pottery using locally worked clay, and dairy farming. Tourism is...
between 30 August and 13 September 2010. The vehicle carried a crash test dummy
Crash test dummy
Crash test dummies are full-scale anthropomorphic test devices that simulate the dimensions, weight proportions and articulation of the human body, and are usually instrumented to record data about the dynamic behavior of the ATD in simulated vehicle impacts...
"Rescue Randy" instead of a human pilot, with manned flight not planed for some years. The success criteria was the completion of the sea voyage and countdown with launch and recovery planned as a bonus.
On Tuesday 31 August 2010, the privately-built Danish submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
UC3 Nautilus
UC3 Nautilus
UC3 Nautilus is a privately-built Danish submarine. It was launched on 3 May 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was built over a three year period as an art/hobby project by Peter Madsen and a group of volunteers, and cost approximately US$200,000 to build .This submarine was Peter Madsen's third...
pushed the launch platform Sputnik carrying the rocket and spacecraft from Copenhagen towards the launch area near Nexø
Nexø
Nexø is a town on the eastern coast of the Baltic island of Bornholm, Denmark. With a population of 3,762 , it is the second largest town, as well as the largest fishing port on the island. Fishing is the mainstay of the town economy. Nexø is also the site of a distillery and a mustard factory...
, Bornholm
Bornholm
Bornholm is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea located to the east of the rest of Denmark, the south of Sweden, and the north of Poland. The main industries on the island include fishing, arts and crafts like glass making and pottery using locally worked clay, and dairy farming. Tourism is...
.
A launch attempt was made on Sunday 5 September 2010 14:43 CEST
Central European Summer Time
Central European Summer Time is one of the names of the Daylight saving time offset using the UTC offset of UTC+02:00, 2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in most European countries. During the winter, Central European Time is used...
, but the motor could not be started due to a failure of the LOX
Liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen — abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries — is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen.-Physical properties:...
valve which is assumed to be caused by insufficient heating of the valve. The design famously included a consumer hair dryer for defrosting the LOX-valve, in effects it was not the blow-dryer but its power supply that failed.
The group promised to come back the year after to attempt the launch again.
2011: First flight of HEAT 1X Tycho Brahe
Having done updates on the rocket, and the valve, and with MLP-Sputnik under her own power, and a support vessel. The group sailed again for Spaceport Nexø on May 28th at 04:50 a.m. They again met up with MHV Hjortø, a Naval Home Guard vessel who serves as Mission Control and recovery vessel.The second launch attempt was more successful and the maiden flight took place 3 June 2011, at , 16:32 local time (CEST) (14:32 GMT). The Heat-1X rocket lifted off and ascended to an altitude of only 2.8 km, because Mission Control had to shut the engine off after 21 seconds. Although there were problems with the parachutes, the HEAT 1X Tycho BraheTycho Brahe was recovered and the flight produced useful data for subsequent development of the program.
Goals and records achieved
Some of the things Copenhagen Suborbitals have achieved so far is:- Most powerful amateur rocket ever flown.
- First amateur rocket flown with a payload of a full size Crash test dummyCrash test dummyCrash test dummies are full-scale anthropomorphic test devices that simulate the dimensions, weight proportions and articulation of the human body, and are usually instrumented to record data about the dynamic behavior of the ATD in simulated vehicle impacts...
. - First Main Engine(s) Cut-Off (MECO) command sent to, received and performed by an amateur rocket.
- Handling and orchestration of a sea launch, by a "small budget"-organization.
Future plans and concept vehicles
The Group has announced, they will build an Orbit capsule and an launch escape systemLaunch escape system
A Launch Escape System is a top-mounted rocket connected to the crew module of a crewed spacecraft and used to quickly separate the crew module from the rest of the rocket in case of emergency. Since the escape rockets are above the crew module, an LES typically uses separate nozzles which are...
tower. A test launch is planned for the summer of 2012.
Other plans include:
- LEO (Low Earth OrbitLow Earth orbitA low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km...
): The group has expressed interest in doing a LEO mission some time in the future.
- SuperMLP: The group has talked about building a bigger sea launch platform, to accommodate bigger rockets and longer sea travels.
- Super HEAT: The group has mentioned the possibility to cluster seven HEAT rockets, to be able to lift more payload (Like the orbit Capsule and LES tower).
- Liquid propellant EnginesLiquid rocket propellantsThe highest specific impulse chemical rockets use liquid propellants. This type of propellant has a long history going back to the first rockets and is still in use, for example in the Space Shuttle and Ariane 5.-Early development:...
: The rocket group has performed some small scale testing.
Support group
CS decided early that many small sponsors, joining just for fun, were better than a main sponsor with demands and pressure.On October 5th, 2010 a independent group of space enthusiasts founded the Copenhagen Suborbitals Support group (CSS). The main purpose of this group is to "support CS economically, morally and practically in their mission". Within two days after its founding, CSS reached 100 members. November 15th, 2011 marked a major milestone for CSS as 500 members was reached.
By paying a fixed monthly amount, the members of Copenhagen Suborbitals Support now covers all the fixed costs of continuing the project as well as donating various hardware.