Perigee Aerospace

[Steven Pietrobon]

This is a South Korean small launch vehicle developer that has pretty much flown under the radar. Unfortunately, their web site is not working for me.

https://www.rocketpunch.com/companies/perigeeaerospace
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoonshin0725/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/perigee-rocket-llc/about/
http://perigee.cc/

Today it was announced that Perigee Aerospace will be flying their vehicle, Blue Whale 1, from a facility to be built by Southern Launch at Whaler's Bay here in South Australia. Their vehicle is only 8.5 m long, 1.8 t launch mass and carries a 48.5 kg payload to SSO. Launch price is $2.3M or $47,400/kg. First launch is scheduled for the end of 2020. The vehicle has two stages using liquid propellant. The first stage engine uses a staged combustion cycle. Construction is carbon fibre. The engine performance curve shows two curves, one with a sea level Isp of 2480 m/s and 2840 m/s vacuum and the other with a sea level Isp of 3020 m/s and 3260 m/s vacuum. Although the propellant combination has not been announced, the second set of numbers is indicative of staged combustion hydrogen peroxide with a high performance fuel, e.g., C10H16 Syntin. From pixel counting, I estimate the vehicle diameter to be 0.764 m, or likely 0.75 m. They have major funding from Samsung Venture Investments and LB Investment (a subsidiary of LG).

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/breaking-news/deal-signed-for-sa-rocket-launches/news-story/920584fe877fd39599054ac48fdb9671
https://southernlaunch.space/news

Hah! Their video from May this year showed they had already picked South Australia for the launch site!

[PM3]

https://spacenews.com/backed-by-samsung-south-korean-startup-perigee-aims-for-2020-maiden-launch/

A little-known Korean startup backed by Samsung is preparing to launch a small orbital rocket in July.
...
Blue Whale 1’s maiden flight will carry a dummy payload to prove the two-stage rocket works, Shin said. The next launch will send a 50-kilogram payload into orbit in early 2021 if not sooner, he said. The company is offering launches for $2 million.

Perigee Aerospace plans to launch from the upcoming Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex that another company, Southern Launch, is building on Australia’s southern coastline. Shin said the launch site will be ready in time for Blue Whale 1’s July debut.

So two launches announced for the "Blue Whale 1" from Southern Launch:

- test flight in July 2020
- operational launch NLT early 2021

[CameronD]

https://spacenews.com/backed-by-samsung-south-korean-startup-perigee-aims-for-2020-maiden-launch/

A little-known Korean startup backed by Samsung is preparing to launch a small orbital rocket in July.
...
Blue Whale 1’s maiden flight will carry a dummy payload to prove the two-stage rocket works, Shin said. The next launch will send a 50-kilogram payload into orbit in early 2021 if not sooner, he said. The company is offering launches for $2 million.

Perigee Aerospace plans to launch from the upcoming Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex that another company, Southern Launch, is building on Australia’s southern coastline. Shin said the launch site will be ready in time for Blue Whale 1’s July debut.

So two launches announced for the "Blue Whale 1" from Southern Launch:

- test flight in July 2020
- operational launch NLT early 2021

Unfortunately, as Yoon Shin says, whether or not the timetable is realistic is kinda out of the hands of either company given the pile of regulatory hurdles to be overcome.

[Steven Pietrobon]

Perigee Aerospace will have a table at the next South Australian Space Forum on 19 February. Some performance data on their stage 1 vehicle. Engine uses oxidiser rich staged combustion to achieve 348 s Isp in vacuum! Whaler's Bay launch site allows inclinations from 58°. Dry mass is only 80 kg.

[vaporcobra]

Perigee Aerospace will have a table at the next South Australian Space Forum on 19 February. Some performance data on their stage 1 vehicle. Engine uses oxidiser rich staged combustion to achieve 348 s Isp in vacuum! Whaler's Bay launch site allows inclinations from 58°. Dry mass is only 80 kg.

Full image via their (extremely sparse but functioning) website

[gmbnz]

Length = 1.8m
Width = 0.76m?
That can't be right, the aspect ratio is crazy.

And a s1 dry mas of 80kg?
Electron has 3 times the payload but has a s1 dry mass of 950kg: https://www.spacelaunchreport.com/electron.html#components

Something doesn't add up!

[Steven Pietrobon]

Length = 1.8m
Width = 0.76m?
That can't be right, the aspect ratio is crazy.

I think that's the length of the payload fairing.

[jbenton]

Length = 1.8m
Width = 0.76m?
That can't be right, the aspect ratio is crazy.

I think that's the length of the payload fairing.

It has to be. The rocket in the picture you posted is much longer - maybe 10m? I'm not sure that I'm "eyeballing it" very well.

[CameronD]

Length = 1.8m
Width = 0.76m?
That can't be right, the aspect ratio is crazy.

I think that's the length of the payload fairing.

It has to be. The rocket in the picture you posted is much longer - maybe 10m? I'm not sure that I'm "eyeballing it" very well.

Perigee had a 1:1 scale banner showing the full-size rocket hanging from the ceiling right next to their stand at the Adelaide Space Forum.  Even  though it's a "small" rocket, it certainly looks impressive when seen like that!

From the specs handed out on the day it is:
Length = 8.5m
Width = 0.76m
Gross takeoff mass = 1,790kg
Payload to 500km SSO = 50kg
Payload to 500km LEO = 63kg

[gmbnz]

Length = 1.8m
Width = 0.76m?
That can't be right, the aspect ratio is crazy.

I think that's the length of the payload fairing.

It has to be. The rocket in the picture you posted is much longer - maybe 10m? I'm not sure that I'm "eyeballing it" very well.

Perigee had a 1:1 scale banner showing the full-size rocket hanging from the ceiling right next to their stand at the Adelaide Space Forum.  Even  though it's a "small" rocket, it certainly looks impressive when seen like that!

From the specs handed out on the day it is:
Length = 8.5m
Width = 0.76m
Gross takeoff mass = 1,790kg
Payload to 500km SSO = 50kg
Payload to 500km LEO = 63kg

Ah yes I see. The slides do also mention the 8.5m length.

However... the payload doesn't make much sense.
Falcon 9: 23T payload and 550T mass: ratio is 4.2% (that's for Full Thrust version, V1 was 3.1%)
Minataur I: 580kg and 36200 - 1.6% (solid)
Electron: 225kg and 12,500kg: ratio is 1.8%
SS-520-5: 4kg and 2600kg - 0.15% (solid)
In other words small rockets are of course worse than big rockets since things like avionics are just as heavy, not to mention the whole volume vs surface area -> mass thing.

I'll admit there are fewer small rockets to compare, but if you look at the Shavit, Safir, Diamant, or Scout - which are at least at the smaller end of the market - their payload mass fractions are still pretty poor. Of course quite a few of them are ICBMs painted in civilian colours but still: what magic do Perigee have up their sleeves which will give them a 3.5% payload mass fraction, especially considering they are so much lighter than the others? Seems pretty optimistic...

Slightly off topic, but there's a great breakdown of the SS-520-5 here
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4120&context=smallsat

[Steven Pietrobon]

The reason for the high mass fraction of 3.5% is because they are using LOX/LNG which has higher Isp than those other vehicles and that they are using staged combustion on their engines!

[ncb1397]

Length = 1.8m
Width = 0.76m?
That can't be right, the aspect ratio is crazy.

I think that's the length of the payload fairing.

It has to be. The rocket in the picture you posted is much longer - maybe 10m? I'm not sure that I'm "eyeballing it" very well.

Perigee had a 1:1 scale banner showing the full-size rocket hanging from the ceiling right next to their stand at the Adelaide Space Forum.  Even  though it's a "small" rocket, it certainly looks impressive when seen like that!

From the specs handed out on the day it is:
Length = 8.5m
Width = 0.76m
Gross takeoff mass = 1,790kg
Payload to 500km SSO = 50kg
Payload to 500km LEO = 63kg

Ah yes I see. The slides do also mention the 8.5m length.

However... the payload doesn't make much sense.
Falcon 9: 23T payload and 550T mass: ratio is 4.2% (that's for Full Thrust version, V1 was 3.1%)
Minataur I: 580kg and 36200 - 1.6% (solid)
Electron: 225kg and 12,500kg: ratio is 1.8%
SS-520-5: 4kg and 2600kg - 0.15% (solid)
In other words small rockets are of course worse than big rockets since things like avionics are just as heavy, not to mention the whole volume vs surface area -> mass thing.

I'll admit there are fewer small rockets to compare, but if you look at the Shavit, Safir, Diamant, or Scout - which are at least at the smaller end of the market - their payload mass fractions are still pretty poor. Of course quite a few of them are ICBMs painted in civilian colours but still: what magic do Perigee have up their sleeves which will give them a 3.5% payload mass fraction, especially considering they are so much lighter than the others? Seems pretty optimistic...

Slightly off topic, but there's a great breakdown of the SS-520-5 here
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4120&context=smallsat

They could have thinner structural margins. Electron is pretty darn reliable and that was a priority for Rocket Lab. Of course, that is a trade off. The thinner your structural margins, the worse your structural reliability will be.

[john smith 19]

The reason for the high mass fraction of 3.5% is because they are using LOX/LNG which has higher Isp than those other vehicles and that they are using staged combustion on their engines!

LOX/LNG certainly increases the Isp. But an SC cycle at this scale is also very sporty.

That sounds pretty tough.

[Rik ISS-fan]

Even considering LOxCH4 their GLOW mass is off by a factor of 10.
I think I can prove this with a back of the envelope calculation.
Let's try to calculate propellant mass inside a cylinder.
Let's assume: tank diameter 0,75m, Tank length 6m, LOxCH4 density 0,82 mT/M3.
Mprop=(D^2.0,25.pi.H).d  (0,75^2.0,25.pi.6).0,82 = 2,17mT.
  I forgot the 0.25 factor. I've changed the calculation.
With a tank length of 4,5m I get a propellant mass of 1,63mT, this leaves 160kg for the 50kg payload and rocket. They claim really low stage empty mass, thus their mf is very low. Still I think they are off by a factor of 2-4.

[Skyrocket]

Does anyone know, if Perigee Aerospace still exists? I haven't heard anything from them for about a year or so. And their website only returns "Error 503".

[Fmedici]

Does anyone know, if Perigee Aerospace still exists? I haven't heard anything from them for about a year or so. And their website only returns "Error 503".

The link on Wikipedia no longer works but their website still exists. I don't know about the company per se though.

[space_snap828]

Does anyone know, if Perigee Aerospace still exists? I haven't heard anything from them for about a year or so. And their website only returns "Error 503".

The link on Wikipedia no longer works but their website still exists. I don't know about the company per se though.

I'm in Korea and I'll be at KAIST in a couple of weeks. Looks like they have a test facility there, I can try and check it out!

[Mahurora]

They do still exist and actually have secured their series A (around $10 million) in 2019 from Korea Development Bank(gov.), Samsung VC Investment, Mirae Asset VC Investment (Mirae Asset, one of the biggest finance company in Korea), etc. (Some news also talks about them securing series B as well but their own update doesn't mention it)

Also expanding their engineering staff rn. Currently there are just short of 40 staff members.

They had their first successful ignition test, sustained thrust test (time unspecified) and turbopump test last year

[Fmedici]

They do still exist and actually have secured their series A (around $10 million) in 2019 from Korea Development Bank(gov.), Samsung VC Investment, Mirae Asset VC Investment (Mirae Asset, one of the biggest finance company in Korea), etc. (Some news also talks about them securing series B as well but their own update doesn't mention it)

Also expanding their engineering staff rn. Currently there are just short of 40 staff members.

They had their first successful ignition test, sustained thrust test (time unspecified) and turbopump test last year

Any estimate about when their Blue Whale 1 will have its maiden flight? The only news about that date back to 2019 and talked about an "early 2021" maiden flight, but I haven't find anything more recent about that

[Mahurora]

It's been delayed to the 2nd half of this year. Some sources claim July to be the date of maiden launch but I've gotta doubt that.

Also, digging more about their recent infos I've found that they've secured additional funding from KDB and others last december as well.