Author Topic: Swiss Space Systems - reusable air-launched vehicle (Read 88259 times)

SebSeb · « **on:** 03/04/2013 03:44 pm »

Dear NASASpaceflight members,

I'm aware of a new endeavor, based in Switzerland and aiming to build a suborbital air-launched vehicle to deploy small satellites in LEO. The rumors are hinting that some huge aerospace stakeholders are behind them.

More information may be found on the website www.s-3.ch and there is a press-event scheduled for the 13th of March.

PS: I'm not part of the company, if you have any question, there is a twitter/facebook/contact page to reach them

PS2: I'm not sure its the right subsection of the forum, so administrators please move it if this topic belongs elsewhere

Ad astra,
Seb

apace · « **Reply #1 on:** 03/04/2013 03:52 pm »

According to the register of commerce:
Swiss Space Systems Holding SA, à Payerne, Z.I. La Palaz A 3, 1530 Payerne, CH-550-1114368-0. Nouvelle société anonyme. Sta- tuts: 19 octobre 2012. But: la société a pour but l'acquisition, la détention, la gestion et la vente de participation dans des sociétés de tout type principalement Suisse et accessoirement à l'étranger, à l'exclusion de toute participation prohibée par la LFAIE (pour but complet cf. statuts). Capital-actions: CHF 360'000, entièrement libéré, divisé en 36'000'000 actions nominatives de CHF 0.01, avec restric- tions quant à la transmissibilité selon statuts. Organe de publication: Feuille officielle suisse du commerce. Administration: Jaussi Pascal, de Wattenwil, à Murist, avec signature individuelle. Selon déclara- tion du 19 octobre 2012, la société n'est pas soumise à une révision ordinaire et renonce à une révision restreinte.
Registre journalier no 15251 du 31.10.2012 / CH-550.1.114.368-0 / 06918054

Extract:
- One company holder: Jaussi Pascal
- Financial capital: CHF 360'000 (USD 400'000)
- Registered October 31st, 2012 in the french speaking part of Switzerland
- Based in Payerne (place of main swiss military airfield)

(Update 1)
Text on LinkedIn:
Swiss Space Systems Holding SA (S3) is developing a suborbital space system to launch small satellites.
S3 is headquartered in Switzerland with global presence.
More information coming soon, please visit our web page http://www.S-3.ch/ and signup for the newsletter.

(Update 2)
According to a report in swiss newspaper le temps, the company has 20 employes and is working on a airplane based launcher.

apace · « **Reply #2 on:** 03/04/2013 04:10 pm »

From: http://www.millionaire-asia.com/the-space-race/

For investors who would like the chance to travel into space, but balk at Virgin Galactic’s US$200,000 price tag, S3, which stands for Swiss Space Systems, will soon be offering the chance to combine a suborbital space trip with an investment.

The company, which spoke exclusively to Millionaireasia ahead of their public launch in January, aims to become the world leader in manned suborbital flights and putting small satellites into orbit.

It also plans to offer so-called point-to-point flights, which will cut the journey time between London and Hong Kong down to just 90 minutes by travelling through space.

Although it is not actively looking for investors, people who are interested will soon be able to buy a small equity stake in the company, and as well as receiving investment returns linked to the firm’s performance, they will also be given a free space flight.

This strategy is aligned with S3’s objective of democratising access to space.

Richard Joye, global promoter of S3, said he thought investing in space offered “tremendous opportunity”. He said: “We are living in an era of the privatisation of space. We are switching from highly nationalised institutions to an industry that is going to be driven by the private sector. We believe it is a great opportunity for investors. The rewards could be extremely high.”

Robotbeat · « **Reply #3 on:** 03/04/2013 04:35 pm »

Democratizing access to space by offering it to rich investors? A more accurate term would be "plutocratizing access to space."

At least with Virgin Galactic (or XCOR), a middle-class American could sell their house to buy a ticket to space.

aquanaut99 · « **Reply #4 on:** 03/04/2013 04:36 pm »

Quote from: Robotbeat on 03/04/2013 04:35 pm

Democratizing access to space by offering it to rich investors? A more accurate term would be "plutocratizing access to space."

Well, we are talking about the Swiss here...

R7 · « **Reply #5 on:** 03/04/2013 04:44 pm »

This is a great year, revolutionizing aerospace companies popping up like mushrooms after rain! 2018 will be a great year, Mars fly-by and Space For All! I'm stoked!¡!¡!

PS welcome to the forum SebSeb

IRobot · « **Reply #6 on:** 03/04/2013 04:52 pm »

Here is a video of a test

Oli · « **Reply #7 on:** 03/04/2013 05:48 pm »

2018? Tight schedule they have...

simonbp · « **Reply #8 on:** 03/06/2013 11:10 pm »

Quote from: apace on 03/04/2013 04:10 pm

It also plans to offer so-called point-to-point flights, which will cut the journey time between London and Hong Kong down to just 90 minutes by travelling through space.

Considering that that would require nearly as much delta v as an orbital flight, they either haven't done the math or have probably bitten off more than they could chew...

Also, love their timeline that seems to worship Lindberg and ignores the Wright brothers...

R7 · « **Reply #9 on:** 03/07/2013 09:05 am »

Quote from: simonbp on 03/06/2013 11:10 pm

Also, love their timeline that seems to worship Lindberg and ignores the Wright brothers...

Lindbergh had "intimate connections" in Switzerland.

Oli · « **Reply #10 on:** 03/13/2013 12:52 pm »

Rocket Science · « **Reply #11 on:** 03/13/2013 01:31 pm »

It looks a lot like VEHRA...

http://www.dassault-aviation.com/en/aviation/innovation/a-technological-leadership/innovation-projects.html?L=1

http://www.dassault-aviation.com/en/aviation/press/press-kits/2013/dassault-aviation-and-the-s3-project.html?L=1

Oli · « **Reply #12 on:** 03/13/2013 03:14 pm »

Nothing about suborbital tourism, so they're aiming at the small satellite market first. 250kg into LEO, what's their competition in 2018? LauncherOne from Virgin Galactic comes to my mind (225kg into LEO).

Anyway, it seems this is a serious effort, especially considering the partners involved.

As a swiss I find that rather exciting

Oli · « **Reply #13 on:** 03/13/2013 06:54 pm »

Some interesting parts from the press release:

Technological inputs from the Hermes and X-38 programs by ESA, Dassault and others allows S3 to save lots of time and R&D (it certainly looks like a somewhat modernized hermes).

The budget will be CHF 250m (~$250m).

25 employees at present, at least 50 by end of the year.

Based in payerne, where also the first spaceport for $50m will be built.
Plans for additional spaceports in morocco and malaysia.

$10m per launch (approx. the same as LauncherOne). Agreement signed for 4 launches.

Robotbeat · « **Reply #14 on:** 03/13/2013 07:00 pm »

Quote from: Oli on 03/13/2013 06:54 pm

...
25 employees at present, at least 50 by end of the year.
...

They're serious!

Quote

$10m per launch (approx. the same as LauncherOne). Agreement signed for 4 launches.

Kind of steep... But good to hear they've already got launches lined up.

simonbp · « **Reply #15 on:** 03/13/2013 08:48 pm »

So, from the video, it looks like the winged air-launch stage will fly a near-vertical pop-up trajectory, and then deploy an expendable upper stage to provide most of the delta v. Presumably that means they can have a lot of commonality between the crewed suborbital vehicle and the satellite orbital launcher.

I'm still not seeing how they would do crewed point-to-point with it; especially with the extra complication of the airliner first stage.

QuantumG · « **Reply #16 on:** 03/13/2013 10:25 pm »

Quote from: Robotbeat on 03/04/2013 04:35 pm

Democratizing access to space by offering it to rich investors? A more accurate term would be "plutocratizing access to space."

Maybe they meant American democracy?

Oli · « **Reply #17 on:** 03/13/2013 11:10 pm »

Quote from: simonbp

So, from the video, it looks like the winged air-launch stage will fly a near-vertical pop-up trajectory, and then deploy an expendable upper stage to provide most of the delta v. Presumably that means they can have a lot of commonality between the crewed suborbital vehicle and the satellite orbital launcher.

I'm still not seeing how they would do crewed point-to-point with it; especially with the extra complication of the airliner first stage.

My french is a bit rusty but I will try to translate from this article

http://www.letemps.ch/Page/Uuid/393210da-8bf3-11e2-acd9-2548fd58d896|0#.UUEQTVeWeyA

For 2017 the plan is to have a launcher for payloads up to 250kg, at $10m (similar to Virgin Galactic which is explicitly mentioned) for the industry, less for academic institutions.

For 2019 and later they want to offer suborbital tourism flights. 8 passengers and two pilots.

From 2020 onwards the goal is a mach 10 suborbital point to point vehicle.
This is the actual end goal of the whole exercise, to offer suborbital transport, and the vehicle will be designed from the beginning for that final purpose (if I understand correctly)

Other than that, they're talking to the russians for engines.

Well at least they got plans

alexterrell · « **Reply #18 on:** 03/14/2013 04:47 pm »

Daily Mail is not noted for its deep scientific coverage, but has a wide readership. Some nice pictures here.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2293382/The-Swiss-space-shuttle-launches-plane-Pioneering-plans-low-cost-satellite-launches-revealed.html

It would be nice to have some space activity near where I live.

R7 · « **Reply #19 on:** 03/14/2013 08:22 pm »

Will be challenging to do orbital launches from Switzerland, hard to find safe enough corridors through neighboring countries. Even if they ferry elsewhere to launch the reusable shuttle part demands a landing strip somewhere downstream.

Pegasus has an airplane plus a rocket and it turned out to be one of the costliest LVs ever. S3 has an airplane, a suborbital shuttle and a rocket...

They may encounter some structural issues because everything appears to be constructed from polished black marble

But the video soundtrack was awesome, got a strong déjà vu from Deus Ex - Human Revolution, but not quite the same though.