Aspire — An Independent British Launch Programme

Abstract

This paper examines the position and potential of a small group of principally British engineering enthusiasts and entrepreneurs, AspireSpace, whose goal is to develop a privately financed nanosatellite launch service. AspireSpace has been developing small sounding rockets throughout the 1990s, and is now proficient with a number of the techniques required for a small, simple and low cost launch vehicle. To date, a number of attempts to develop small launchers have failed, but AspireSpace believes that it can be one of the first to succeed. The reasons are outlined in this paper, and include:

• • A high reliability, simple, and safe propulsion unit, using a hybrid chemical rocket engine

• • A novel funding mechanism, avoiding government funding but including sponsorship from industry and low-cost development in a university environment

• • Integrated design, development and launch from a single site on the UK mainland.