Copenhagen Suborbital Plans First Launch August 30th

A couple of enterprising Danes are getting set to launch what they say is the first amateur-built rocket designed to eventually carry a person into the fringes of space. And one of its inventors plans to be the first to take the ride.

The rocket HEAT-1X/Tycho Brahe after final assembly

If all goes well, Copenhagen Suborbital's HEAT, which stands for Hybrid Exo Atmospheric Transporter, will be towed into the Baltic Sea by a submarine also built by the entrepreneurs, and launched to an altitude of about 19 miles. If next Monday's launch is successful, co-founder Peter Madsen hopes to be the first to make a sub-orbital flight in the spacecraft.

If he succeeds, Denmark would become only the 4th nation to launch a human being into space.

 
Kristian von Bengtson inside his self-made spacecraft. Peter Madsen standing outside

The London Daily Mail reported that Masden and Kristian von Bengtson have been working on the project for several years. The two say they are building two rockets, a small unmanned sounding rocket, named Hybrid Atmospheric Test Vehicle or HATV and the larger HEAT booster rocket designed to carry a micro spacecraft into a suborbital trajectory in space. Both are being built without any government assistance by the non-profit organization led by the two, using funds raised by sponsorships and donations., the two say they are "working full time to develop a series of suborbital space vehicles – designed to pave the way for manned space flight on a micro size spacecraft."

The booster was test-fired successfully both in February and May. Masden and von Bengtson said in a news conference that the rocket will generate about 40kN of thrust over a 60 second burn, which should allow a person to tolerate the acceleration in a standing position. On reaching apogee, the booster will be jettisoned, and the "Tycho Brahe" capsule, which would eventually be the manned portion of the spacecraft, will return to earth under three main parachutes, touching down in the water like so many U.S. space missions.

Spacecraft Tycho Brahe designed by Kristian von Bengtson with crash test dummy

The Copenhagen Suborbital team says there is little in the way of guidance for the rocket once it's launched. It has only fixed stabilizing fins, and a large launch tower will hopefully give it the stability it needs until it's going fast enough to reach sub-orbital altitudes. But the inventors say they are looking at a way to provide some "basic" steering for the rocket.

There is a countdown clock on the website. We'll be watching.

FMI: www.copenhagensuborbitals.com