Equatorial Space Industries

[Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25]

ESS has launched for the first time!!

"The Low Altitude Demonstrator rocket - the very first in-fight demonstration of our proprietary solid fuel which allows for high-performance, stable hybrid rocket propulsion, have successfully launched in the morning of 21st December 2020 at Felcra Palm Oil Estate in Perak, Malaysia.

The rocket lifted off at approximately 11:40 local time, among spectators ranging from academia, government officials and MNCs representatives who joined the teams Equatorial Space, as well as MTC Engineering Sdn Bhd, as well as HEMREL Lab at the Universiti Teknologi MARA, as well as design collaborator Zu Puayen Tan of @Boleh Rocket for this historic flight involving an international collaboration among Southeast Asian neighbours.

We couldn’t be more grateful to our Malaysian partners for their invaluable logistical and organisational support, and look forward on further collaboration in the future!"

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/equatorialspace_ess-equatorialspace-space-activity-6746777811429789696-YlsR

[Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25]

[Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25]

https://spacewatch.global/2021/01/equatorial-space-systems-concludes-first-test-flight/?no_cache=1609501402

"The 2.5-meters-long Low Altitude Demonstrator(LAD) took flight over the vast expanse of the Felcra Palm Oil Estate in Perak, Malaysia at approximately 11:40 local time on Monday, 21st December, and  reached its target altitude of 1.2 kilometres. The vehicle was the very first in-flight demonstration of the Company’s proprietary solid fuel for hybrid rocket motors, the HRF-1"

The LAD:
Length: 2.4m
Diameter: 15cm
Target Altitude: 1.5km
Total Mass: 22kg
Propulsion: Hybrid (HRF-1AL/NOX)

[Danderman]

https://spacewatch.global/2021/01/equatorial-space-systems-concludes-first-test-flight/?no_cache=1609501402

"The 2.5-meters-long Low Altitude Demonstrator(LAD) took flight over the vast expanse of the Felcra Palm Oil Estate in Perak, Malaysia at approximately 11:40 local time on Monday, 21st December, and  reached its target altitude of 1.2 kilometres. The vehicle was the very first in-flight demonstration of the Company’s proprietary solid fuel for hybrid rocket motors, the HRF-1"

The LAD:
Length: 2.4m
Diameter: 15cm
Target Altitude: 1.5km
Total Mass: 22kg
Propulsion: Hybrid (HRF-1AL/NOX)

Aren’t all solid fuel rockets using hybrid fuel by definition?

[ZChris13]

https://spacewatch.global/2021/01/equatorial-space-systems-concludes-first-test-flight/?no_cache=1609501402

"The 2.5-meters-long Low Altitude Demonstrator(LAD) took flight over the vast expanse of the Felcra Palm Oil Estate in Perak, Malaysia at approximately 11:40 local time on Monday, 21st December, and  reached its target altitude of 1.2 kilometres. The vehicle was the very first in-flight demonstration of the Company’s proprietary solid fuel for hybrid rocket motors, the HRF-1"

The LAD:
Length: 2.4m
Diameter: 15cm
Target Altitude: 1.5km
Total Mass: 22kg
Propulsion: Hybrid (HRF-1AL/NOX)

Aren’t all solid fuel rockets using hybrid fuel by definition?

No. Hybrid means one propellant element is solid and the other is liquid (or gas). In this case, the fuel is HRF and the oxidizer is Nitrous Oxide.

[Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25]

CEO, Simon Gwozdz has said in a tweet that  HRF(Probably the current solid fuel in use), is actually not based on Paraffin.
https://twitter.com/RabakBoy91/status/1347446017340235776?s=20

[Steven Pietrobon]

Possible meanings for HRF.

High Reactivity Fuel
Hybrid Rocket Fuel

[Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25]

Possible meanings for HRF.

High Reactivity Fuel
Hybrid Rocket Fuel

Possibly High Regression rate Fuel?
edit:Changed screenshot to include graph labels.

[Comga]

https://spacewatch.global/2021/01/equatorial-space-systems-concludes-first-test-flight/?no_cache=1609501402

"The 2.5-meters-long Low Altitude Demonstrator(LAD) took flight over the vast expanse of the Felcra Palm Oil Estate in Perak, Malaysia at approximately 11:40 local time on Monday, 21st December, and  reached its target altitude of 1.2 kilometres. The vehicle was the very first in-flight demonstration of the Company’s proprietary solid fuel for hybrid rocket motors, the HRF-1"

The LAD:
Length: 2.4m
Diameter: 15cm
Target Altitude: 1.5km
Total Mass: 22kg
Propulsion: Hybrid (HRF-1AL/NOX)

Which was the actual target altitude, 1.2 or 1.5 km?
And what is "NOX"?  N2O= Nitrous Oxide?  NO2=Nitrogen Dioxide?

[Steven Pietrobon]

And what is "NOX"?  N2O= Nitrous Oxide?  NO2=Nitrogen Dioxide?

Nitrous Oxide is the common meaning and is a common oxidiser that is used in hybrids. NO2 converts to N2O4 at low temperatures. The high regression rate and density could come from adding aluminium (AL) to the fuel.

[Jamie Anderson]

Update on Volans vehicle

https://www.equatorialspace.com/the-volans

Woah are you the Jamie Anderson in the ESI website,if so i want to ask if scaling hybrids in the Singapore context is possible.Space is no issue because we just need a warehouse in the industrial zones but does the proprietary fuel by ESI allow the successful scaling of a hybrid rocket?

Hi yes that is me. Sorry for the long delay in reply, I hadn't visited NASA spaceflight forum for many months.

To answer your question we intend to keep the headquarters in Singapore, but an R&D test facility will be opened shortly in Australia to enable large scale motor testing and access to launch facilities in South Australia.

We don't see any issues so far with scaleability of motors based on HRF-1 as we haven't observed any of the structural issues that plague say a paraffin wax, nor the poor efficiency of rubbers like HTPB. From all my experience with hybrids which is nearing 35 years, the bulk of the scaling issues have stemmed from the various attempts to use LOX and the massive amount of heat required to convert the LOX into a gaseous form to mix & combust with the fuel. Can normally only solve that issue by introduction of heat to the oxidiser injection zone, either from devices like pre-burners or injection of pyrophoric agents (ie TEAL). We aren't burdened by this as Nitrous Oxide has a significant heat of formation that contributes to its exothermic decomposition, plus its tenancy to rapidly expand (flash into vapour) makes atomisation & mixing easier as well.

We are proceeding along the development path of building a suborbital rocket named "Dorado" that is aimed at providing low cost access to micro-gravity, space physics or in-space hardware testing. The H300 motor (designation H= Hybrid & 300 = Diameter in mm) will be produced in 20kN thrust version for a sustainer & a 54kN version for a booster. A long burn duration version (>60sec) of this motor with a vacuum nozzle will form the 3rd stage of the Volans launch vehicle. Dorado is completely free of any pyrotechnic devices and has non-hazardous propulsion, so can be operated globally without the same restrictions that plague sounding rockets based on SRMs (class 1.3 explosive hazmat shipping etc).

Volans vehicle first 2 stages are based on the H700 motor, which will be undergoing development firings in the later half of 2022.

As for clearing up a few other things discussed in the thread..

HRF-1 - Hybrid Rocket Fuel -1 the Al designates "Aluminized" (HRF-1 has been tested also without AL)
Nano AL - Its not needed, the chemistry of the fuel is such that 60 micron AL has been shown to combust efficiently
It is Wax - Definitely not made from any parrifinic oil related products, but unfortunately cant divulge what it is made from.
Chilled NOX - We have gone this way for two main reasons, one to improve density (-60 give us 1120kg/m3) & secondly to reduce the NOX vapour pressure & thus oxidiser tank structural / mass requirements. We have been developing a new oxidiser delivery system we dub the eRAVEN, which is essentially an integrated rotational pump/ injector assembly that can deliver the cNOX at between 70 to 100bar.

The use of the cNOX at -60c also doesn't require any innovation in composite materials, allowing us to draw on legacy automated production methods to make lower cost tank & vehicle structures.

The combination of HRF-1AL/ cNOX is able to deliver Isp of over 268 sec at sea level & around 310 sec vacuum, with packaging densities far exceeding KERO/LOX due to the high density of the fuel, and low o/f range (2 to 1).

Anyway hope this provides more info, also we have recently updated the website & you will find the latest representations of the planned launchers & our development pathway are given.

The 19th of June was actually the 32 anniversary of the passing of George Koopman the founder of the American Rocket Company (AMROC), and we announced that our first Volans vehicle will be named the "Koopman Express" in his honor. I was very fortunate to have met and collaborated with George & he was the major inspiration toward my focus on hybrid rockets as the key to routine, and safe space access. I have attached the memorial and the mission patch announcements.

www.equatorialspace.com

[Steven Pietrobon]

Thankyou very much for that detailed update. Looking forward to seeing your rocket fly, hopefully from Whaler's Way here in South Australia! I did not know about that particular problem of using LOX for hybrids, i.e., the great amount of heat required to convert it to a gas at the injector. The only problem I was aware of previously is its tendency to cause stuck LOX valves. I wonder if Gilmour Space is facing similar difficulty, after switching from HTP to LOX in their hybrid motors.

One thing, please tell your website developer to not be browser specific, or at least not give up on showing your web page! This is what I see when I visit your website.

[Jamie Anderson]

Thankyou very much for that detailed update. Looking forward to seeing your rocket fly, hopefully from Whaler's Way here in South Australia! I did not know about that particular problem of using LOX for hybrids, i.e., the great amount of heat required to convert it to a gas at the injector. The only problem I was aware of previously is its tendency to cause stuck LOX valves. I wonder if Gilmour Space is facing similar difficulty, after switching from HTP to LOX in their hybrid motors.

One thing, please tell your website developer to not be browser specific, or at least not give up on showing your web page! This is what I see when I visit your website.

Hi Steven,
No problem ill get this looked into, its hosted at wix so probably a limitation of their platform.

I can tell you pretty confidently after looking at Gilmour's last 2 firing videos they have gone back to using HTP, the catalyst pack assembly visible in the video's is nearly identical looking to the one I developed there in 2017.

[CameronD]

Perhaps cost is a factor also??  LOX is cheap, HTP is reasonable, but NOX is in a ball-park of it's own!

[Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25]

Seems like ESS is planning to release it's first commercial product.
It's called SPARK or the Student Payload Academic Rocket Kit, it is suited for IREC since the competition requires students to launch a 1U payload to 10k ft.
website:https://www.equatorialspace.com/rockets-spark

[Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25]

Information on Dorado ,which will be the company's first suborbital launcher, and is advertised to cost half of existing Sounding Rockets.

[Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25]

Volans Orbital Launch Vehicle and the H700 motor.

[Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25]

Development Timeline for the hardware above^^
Refer to Jamie's reply on the thread for in depth information on the hardware,especially the motors.

Update on Volans vehicle

https://www.equatorialspace.com/the-volans

Woah are you the Jamie Anderson in the ESI website,if so i want to ask if scaling hybrids in the Singapore context is possible.Space is no issue because we just need a warehouse in the industrial zones but does the proprietary fuel by ESI allow the successful scaling of a hybrid rocket?

Hi yes that is me. Sorry for the long delay in reply, I hadn't visited NASA spaceflight forum for many months.

To answer your question we intend to keep the headquarters in Singapore, but an R&D test facility will be opened shortly in Australia to enable large scale motor testing and access to launch facilities in South Australia.

We don't see any issues so far with scaleability of motors based on HRF-1 as we haven't observed any of the structural issues that plague say a paraffin wax, nor the poor efficiency of rubbers like HTPB. From all my experience with hybrids which is nearing 35 years, the bulk of the scaling issues have stemmed from the various attempts to use LOX and the massive amount of heat required to convert the LOX into a gaseous form to mix & combust with the fuel. Can normally only solve that issue by introduction of heat to the oxidiser injection zone, either from devices like pre-burners or injection of pyrophoric agents (ie TEAL). We aren't burdened by this as Nitrous Oxide has a significant heat of formation that contributes to its exothermic decomposition, plus its tenancy to rapidly expand (flash into vapour) makes atomisation & mixing easier as well.

We are proceeding along the development path of building a suborbital rocket named "Dorado" that is aimed at providing low cost access to micro-gravity, space physics or in-space hardware testing. The H300 motor (designation H= Hybrid & 300 = Diameter in mm) will be produced in 20kN thrust version for a sustainer & a 54kN version for a booster. A long burn duration version (>60sec) of this motor with a vacuum nozzle will form the 3rd stage of the Volans launch vehicle. Dorado is completely free of any pyrotechnic devices and has non-hazardous propulsion, so can be operated globally without the same restrictions that plague sounding rockets based on SRMs (class 1.3 explosive hazmat shipping etc).

Volans vehicle first 2 stages are based on the H700 motor, which will be undergoing development firings in the later half of 2022.

As for clearing up a few other things discussed in the thread..

HRF-1 - Hybrid Rocket Fuel -1 the Al designates "Aluminized" (HRF-1 has been tested also without AL)
Nano AL - Its not needed, the chemistry of the fuel is such that 60 micron AL has been shown to combust efficiently
It is Wax - Definitely not made from any parrifinic oil related products, but unfortunately cant divulge what it is made from.
Chilled NOX - We have gone this way for two main reasons, one to improve density (-60 give us 1120kg/m3) & secondly to reduce the NOX vapour pressure & thus oxidiser tank structural / mass requirements. We have been developing a new oxidiser delivery system we dub the eRAVEN, which is essentially an integrated rotational pump/ injector assembly that can deliver the cNOX at between 70 to 100bar.

The use of the cNOX at -60c also doesn't require any innovation in composite materials, allowing us to draw on legacy automated production methods to make lower cost tank & vehicle structures.

The combination of HRF-1AL/ cNOX is able to deliver Isp of over 268 sec at sea level & around 310 sec vacuum, with packaging densities far exceeding KERO/LOX due to the high density of the fuel, and low o/f range (2 to 1).

Anyway hope this provides more info, also we have recently updated the website & you will find the latest representations of the planned launchers & our development pathway are given.

The 19th of June was actually the 32 anniversary of the passing of George Koopman the founder of the American Rocket Company (AMROC), and we announced that our first Volans vehicle will be named the "Koopman Express" in his honor. I was very fortunate to have met and collaborated with George & he was the major inspiration toward my focus on hybrid rockets as the key to routine, and safe space access. I have attached the memorial and the mission patch announcements.

www.equatorialspace.com

[Jamie Anderson]

Perhaps cost is a factor also??  LOX is cheap, HTP is reasonable, but NOX is in a ball-park of it's own!

Cost per kg of a given propellant is a minor component of overall launch system cost.

Although LOX is much cheaper per kg than say HTP, LOX as a cryogenic fluid considerably increases all fluid system, structures & propulsion complexity & limits material options and thus manufacturing methodologies that can be applied to vehicles. As an example only two options for oxidiser tanks for cryogenic is either welded metal structures or specialty composites, meanwhile HTP could be stored in a low cost plastic lined composite tank. The metal LOX tank would require a lot of skilled labor input & specialist welding, treatment & analysis equipment, the composite LOX tank requires innovations in composite materials and processing techniques. But the HTP tank could be manufactured using common industrial practices like polymer rotational molding & filament winding of low cost carbon fibers (or even potentially glass fibers), creating far lower cost vehicle structures, enable greater degree of automation thus lowering skilled labor overheads also and allow for true volume mass production of vehicle structures.

This is why small launchers that choose legacy propulsion schemes based on KERLOX are not delivering big breakthroughs in launch cost as there is limited room for reduction of vehicle structures/ fluid system & propulsion cost. Relativity will likely shake this cart a bit, but their 3D printing process is very slow & probably wont be able to be accelerated much. This will lead to the requirement for lots of machines operating simultaneously to improve production rate which will be very energy intensive. It will be interesting to see what their electricity bills end up looking like & understanding how much electricity is consumed producing a vehicle to see how economical their engineering process is. 

Ive always been an advocate of non-cryogenic propulsion for small launchers, I think cryogenics are better for larger launchers where high manufacturing cost burdens can be absorbed due to large payload. Especially if you go for reuse like Space X.

[PM3]

And their plan is to star the fly before end 2019 

Slipped to 2021: https://equatorialspace.com/?page_id=3446

... and to 2023:

Edinburgh, 23 September 2021. – Innova Space, the Argentinian satellite development and operations company will use Equatorial Space Systems as the launch service provider for its pico satellite constellation, Equatorial Space announced.

The constellation will provide Internet of Things (IoT) services globally.

The agreement includes up to two launches per year to fully deploy Innova’s satellite network. Equatorial Space is “on track to begin revenue services” with their Volans launcher by 2023, CEO Simon Gwozdz said.

https://spacewatch.global/2021/09/equatorial-space-and-innova-space-join-forces/

Looks like this is one of those ever "we will launch in two years" companies.