German aerospace start-up HyImpulse has announced that it has successfully tested a rocket powered by candle wax paraffin, the first commercial launch by a German company in decades.
According to a company spokesman, the twelve-meter-long, single-stage device (i.e. it travels into space without discarding any of its parts) took off this Friday in southern Australia.
The rocket, which doesn't have enough power to reach Earth orbit, was designed to reach an altitude of 250 kilometers and carry 250 kilos of cargo. For this test, however, a lower height of 60 kilometers was planned, so that the limit of space was not exceeded.
Hyimpulse uses an innovative type of propulsion that combines liquid oxygen with paraffin - and this without the "risk of explosion" and with simpler, safer and cheaper technology, according to the company, which claims that building the vehicle is "around 40% cheaper than conventional propulsion systems".
With the test, the startup, which is eyeing the market for launching small satellites, wanted to collect data on the operation of the propellant and control systems.
The information will be used in the development of a second model of rocket, 32 meters long and capable of carrying up to 600 kilos of payload at an altitude of 500 kilometers, whose flight is planned for the end of 2025.
"Rocket is like a cab"
Christian Schmierer, co-founder of the 65-employee startup founded in 2018 and based in Neuenstadt am Kocher, Baden-Württemberg, explained the rocket's differentiating factor in an interview with the German newspaper Tagesspiegel.
According to Schmierer, the vehicles currently available on the market are like buses that only unload satellites at certain points in the Earth's orbit. "Our rocket is like a cab," he said.
Mario Kobald, another co-founder of the startup, celebrated the test as a demonstration of "Germany's space nation capability" and the expansion of "Europe's access to outer space".
In Europe, several companies are competing to develop mini rockets. In Germany, Hyimpulse competes with the also neophyte Isar Aerospace from Munich and Rocket Factory Augsburg; in France, with Maiaspace and Latitude; and in Spain, with PLD Space.
