Croatia has become Swiss Space Systems’ (S3) latest industrial partner to help build its smallsat launcher as it searches for a bigger slice of the global aerospace sector.
The Switzerland-based venture has created a subsidiary in the country called…
Croatia has become Swiss Space Systems’ (S3) latest industrial partner to help build its smallsat launcher as it searches for a bigger slice of the global aerospace sector.
The Switzerland-based venture has created a subsidiary in the country called S3 Croatia, which will initially begin activities in H1 2016 as a provider of zero gravity flights before it builds a spaceport.
S3 said the spaceport could help assemble the upper stage of its sub-orbital shuttle, which is the only part of the group’s planned aircraft-based system that is not reusable.
The upper stage is being developed in partnership with Russia’s RKK Energia, which is providing the propulsion systems. S3 expects to begin flight and satellite test launches in 2017.
According to S3, by flying the spacecraft-carrying suborbital shuttle on the back of an Airbus A300 for part of its journey, it can launch satellites weighing less than 250kg for around US$11m, or a quarter of current market rates.
The group is fully owned by its founder and CEO Pascal Jaussi, and its industrial partners include France’s Dassault Aviation, which is building the internal architecture of S3’s shuttle.
It is also being backed by the European Space Agency and has partners in Belgium, Italy and Spain.
Croatia, which became the European Union’s 28th member state in July 2013, will also use its universities and research centres for aerospace technology testing in the field of small satellites.
Sladjan Zovko, general director of S3 Croatia, said: “All these industrial as well as education and research activities are important for Croatia in order to develop its aerospace activities.
“The goal is to make of the new member of the European Space Agency that is Croatia a country with a strong aerospace sector and Swiss Space Systems Croatia wants to act as a catalyst in order to reach this goal. A spaceport in Croatia will definitely bring an added value in this regard.”
S3 has also been expanding its launch capability outside of Europe and has a daughter company in the US.
