Augsburg (Germany) (AFP)

Will Germany one day be as famous for its rockets as it is for its cars?

Startups dream of being rivals of the American firm SpaceX in the race to develop mini-launchers, these future space "taxis" carrying small satellites.

At the end of July, the Bavarian company Rocket Factory Augsburg (FRG) succeeded in igniting for the first time, for 8 seconds, the engine of its rocket "RFA One", at the test site of Kiruna in Sweden.

Its "staged combustion" system, used by rockets from SpaceX (Elon Musk) and Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos), but unprecedented in Europe, "allows 30% more payload to be put into orbit", assures Jörn Spurmann , operational director of RFA.

A mechanic examines a fuel injector test bench at Rocket Factory Augsburg in Augsburg, southern Germany, June 16, 2021 LENNART PREISS AFP

Another young company in the sector, HyImpulse, based in Baden-Württemberg, also tested the engine of its prototype rocket for more than 20 seconds, in May on the Shetland Islands (Scotland), using a fuel made from .. candle wax, supposed to burn very quickly for good performance.

"Our technology is advanced enough to serve the small launch market," says HyImpulse co-founder Christian Schmierer, 33.

The third player, Isar Aerospace, near Munich, is still awaiting a first engine test.

But it is the best financed of the three with a mix of investors including the HV Capital fund, the Swiss bank Lombard Odier and the holding company Porsche SE.

With others, they brought more than 150 million euros to this startup led by engineers in their late thirties.

An inaugural flight of its "Spectrum" rocket is expected in 2022.

- Low-cost space -

These projects make Germany one of the most serious contenders in the competition opened by the announced rise of the satellite market to observe the Earth and cover the needs of the Internet of machines or connected cars.

The market should thus reach "more than 30 billion euros by 2027 - including nearly 10 billion euros for small and medium-sized satellites" ordered by private or institutional customers, predicts Isar Aerospace.

A mechanic adjusts a nozzle in a heat flow test bench at Rocket Factory Augsburg in Augsburg, southern Germany, June 16, 2021 LENNART PREISS AFP

"The big rocket is the mainline bus dropping off its passengers at the same stop, while a micro-launcher will work like a taxi, placing the satellites at the precise location desired by the customer", explains Christian Schmierer, boss of HyImpulse.

These satellites weighing a few hundred kilos are like hand luggage compared to loads of more than 10 tonnes sent into space by the Ariane rocket, the spearhead of European space.

The smallest of them will be "boxes of 10 cm per side weighing 1 kilo and rotating at 28,000 km / h around the earth", explains Daniel Metzler, founding boss of Isar Aerospace.

All while aiming for ever lower prices: "in the long term we will be able to load 1.3 tonnes of material for an invoiced price of 5 million euros, or 3,850 euros per kilo, much cheaper than the competition", assures t -on at RFA.

- A "Fordist" moment?

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The three German startups are ultimately betting on a fleet of 20 to 40 rockets, partly reusable and which would ensure dozens of takeoffs per year.

Automotive subcontractors, looking for outlets while the years of production of internal combustion engines are numbered, will be able to join the industry by supplying rocket engine components.

"We want to create the + Henry Ford + moment for space travel", assures Jörn Spurmann, referring to the American industrialist who revolutionized automobile production methods.

But Germany is far from alone in the ranks of this juicy market.

In addition to SpaceX, which already places mini-satellites in orbit and collaborates with NASA, the American company Rocket Lab is also among the pioneers and has already carried out first commercial flights.

China is also active and Europe has half a dozen credible projects, especially in Spain and the United Kingdom.

"The question of the reliability of each business model will be central in the next 3 to 5 years," predicts Carla Filotico, partner at the German consultancy firm Spacetec.

With the consequence "a probable consolidation of the sector" leaving several players on the sidelines.

© 2021 AFP