Latitude (was Venture Orbital Systems)

[FutureSpaceTourist]

[catdlr]

https://twitter.com/SpaceNews_Inc/status/1940542389308850436

Latitude announces new factory and contracts for Zephyr small launcher https://spacenews.com/latitude-announces-new-factory-and-contracts-for-zephyr-small-launcher/

[StraumliBlight]

Orbital Paradigm Linkedin [Jun 19]

We are extremely happy to have been selected, alongside our partner Latitude, to provide microgravity missions to the Centre National d'Études Spatiales to enable in-space experimentation in the fields of biology and physiology.

We would like to warmly thank the Centre National d'Études Spatiales for its trust, as well as our good friends at Latitude for their commitment and the quality of their work.

These missions will be carried out using our Kestrel capsule, launched by Latitude's Zephyr launcher. Together, they will offer unprecedented services to best meet the needs of CNES and the market, with dedicated flights and late access up to 24 hours before launch.

[TheKutKu]

https://europeanspaceflight.com/latitude-commits-e8m-to-launch-facility-in-french-guiana/ [June 26]

Latitude Commits €8M to Launch Facility in French Guiana

Latitude commits €8 million to develop its new launch facility at the Guiana Space Centre, set to host the inaugural flight of its Zephyr rocket in 2026.

French launch services provider Latitude has announced that it will conduct the inaugural flight of its Zephyr rocket from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. The company has committed €8 million to developing its section of a new commercial launch facility being constructed by the French space agency CNES on the grounds of the former Diamant launch complex.

Some quick notes:
They want to launch in the next 18 month
Dimensions changed from 19 m long 1.5 wide (according to their site) to 20m long 1.6m wide
They Aim for 50 launches/year, of which 10-15 will be from Kourou
They will announce a 2nd launch location in next few months, the first launch may not be from Kourou
They're building a test launch pad at their test site near Reims, will copy and improve for their 1st site, then 1.5-2 years later 2nd site
The launch pad is controlled by the rocket.
"electron is 70% more expensive than zephyr" [Note: it is also 60% more capable]
Navier engine (1st stage variant) 38kN in vac, single shaft LOX-RP1 turbopump with HTP gas generator
They hope to hot fire a fully integrated Navier in next few weeks
No reuse is planned, they don't think it's profitable
They want to qualify engines by mid 2026, test S2 in late 2025/Q1 2026 rocket tanks being welded, test stand almost ready (no hot fire), they want to ship the 1st flight model in late 2026/Q1 2027.

Some quotes:
""why shoud we hot fire the 2nd stage? Like seriously what's the probability the second stage even separates and ignites [On the 1st launch]? Why would we lose 3 months qualifying it?""
""the first flight is not going to launch to orbit, the odds of it reaching orbit are  extremely low, and if it does that means we spent too much time and money developing it, and that we were extremely lucky and we won't be as much on the 2nd flight" "

[StraumliBlight]

[LH2NHI]

They released a turbopump test video.
Conversely, does this mean that they have not yet conducted tests on the entire engine with the turbopump integrated?
This could be described as being one phase earlier than Isar Aerospace and RFA.

[catdlr]

French startup Latitude targets 2026 for first launch while following market-driven approach
written by Sean Yoder January 21, 2026