display

The US technology entrepreneur Elon Musk is said to have cheap competition from Germany in his space business.

At least as far as the launch offer for small satellites is concerned, which is considered a future market.

The start-up company Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) wants to attract customers with unprecedented low prices.

“We want to build the best and cheapest rockets and micro launcher,” said founding investor Hans Steininger in a video conference.

With freight costs of three million euros per take-off, it should be by far the lowest offer in the world.

The costs per kilogram of payload would be around 2500 euros, which is two to three times lower than that of the competition.

A first start is planned for the end of 2022 / beginning of 2023.

A start would also be possible from a platform in the North Sea

display

The low prices could also be achieved through a launch site in the Azores.

The 25-meter rocket could also take off from Europe's spaceport in Kourou in French Guiana or on a platform in the North Sea, according to an analyst conference of the Bremen space company OHB, which is significantly involved in RFA.

The Augsburg-based company with almost 90 employees is part of a group of three German start-ups that are looking for further investors with ambitious plans.

Isar Aerospace in Munich and HyImpulse from near Heilbronn, which recently focused on their special propulsion system with the use of candle wax, still need millions.

display

Even on a global scale, RFA is not alone in its plan to act as a launch service provider in the expected billion dollar market for small or larger satellite fleets.

Internationally there are around two dozen projects for small launchers, three from Germany alone.

As the space manager and investor Steiniger said, RFA will then "take off every Monday" in the future.

The goal of 50 starts a year should be achieved by 2030 at the latest.

In the first four or five years there should be 20 to 30 starts per year.

First of all, the aim is to gain market share.

It should practically create a market, said the boss of MT Aerospace, a key supplier for Europe's Ariane rocket.

The cheap price of RFA is not seen as a disadvantage.

With freight costs of three million euros per launch, this micro launcher should be by far the lowest offer in the world

Source: semanticom GmbH

display

“Look at Aldi or Wal-Mart.

They also have low prices, but attractive margins, ”said Steiniger with a comparison to retailers.

"I want the same margins as Aldi."

As far as is known, the RFA rocket has nine engines in the first of three stages and can carry up to 1,300 kilograms into space.

The rocket is supposed to deliver the satellites in orbit with pinpoint accuracy.

The space company SpaceX also offers ride-sharing for small satellites on the mighty Falcon 9 rocket.

Their business model, however, is more of a large mass transport and not of targeting a smaller payload in a special orbit.

The space company OHB, which was founded 40 years ago and has been listed on the stock exchange for 20 years, would not only build satellites via Rocket Factory Augsburg, but also have a rocket at its disposal.

In his presentation, OHB boss Marco Fuchs referred to the ongoing expansion of the group to around one billion euros in sales with around 3000 employees in 2020.

However, OHB recently suffered a severe setback because the Bremen-based company was not considered for a major order for further Galileo navigation satellites from the Europeans.

So far, OHB has supplied the satellites.

Instead, the order for 1.47 billion euros went to competitors Airbus and Thales Alenia Space.

Here you can listen to our WELT podcasts

We use the player from the provider Podigee for our WELT podcasts.

We need your consent so that you can see the podcast player and to interact with or display content from Podigee and other social networks.

Activate social networks

I consent to content from social networks being displayed to me.

This allows personal data to be transmitted to third party providers.

This may require the storage of cookies on your device.

More information can be found here.

OHB boss Fuchs confirmed that there was a lawsuit against the decision of the EU Commission, but did not want to give any details.

He indicated that, as a listed company, OHB was also obliged to its shareholders, i.e. that it had to take all steps.

The complaint is well founded, added OHB board member Lutz Bertling.

An industry service (Space Intel Report) speculates that ex-OHB employees may have revealed details when they switched to Airbus.

Despite the lack of new Galileo orders, OHB hopes to further expand the order backlog in 2021.

A mysterious satellite ("GMS-T") launched at the end of January for an unknown customer has led to speculation.

It was only shot into space to secure a transmission frequency that would otherwise have expired for a short time.

OHB board member Bertling did not want to reveal the client.

It is possible that three-digit numbers of satellites could be built for this customer in the future.

Elon Musk's Mars rocket goes up in flames again

The Mars rocket Starship also went up in flames on its second attempt at flight.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk wants to one day take people to the moon and Mars with the reusable spaceship.

Source: WELT / Mig Preisinger and Steffen Schwarzkopf