SpaceX’s Starship is on everyone’s lips, but do you know one of Germany’s flagship space projects? We introduce you to a company and its rocket that are working together to respond to Europe’s Elon Musk with high-tech.
What kind of German company is this? The Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) has developed an orbital rocket that is now about to make its maiden flight from Unst. This summer, the SaxaVord Spaceport is a hive of activity in an idyllic, rugged setting.
While the surf foams at the foot of the cliffs, tests are being carried out above for the flaming ride to orbit. The spectacle will be powered by ultra-modern engines that are (almost) as good as those from the USA.
The rocket, named RFA One, is scheduled to take off for the first time before the autumn, inaugurating the first spaceport in the United Kingdom.
Across the Atlantic in Texas, however, an unprecedented private industry has been running at full speed for years: Elon Musk and SpaceX are building a long-cherished dream of building the Starship, the largest rocket of all time. This is intended to make the moon and eventually Mars accessible to humanity. After three test flights, the goal is increasingly within reach.
In Germany, a company is pursuing more modest goals. We will explain everything you need to know about RFA One and why the hopes of a young industry that has been lying dormant in Germany for decades are resting on it. Germany wants to have a share in one of the economic sectors of the future: commercial space travel.
What is the RFA One?
The RFA One is an orbital rocket that is 30 meters high and two meters in diameter. It can bring around 1.3 tons into low Earth orbit (LEO). There are a variety of possible uses for satellites here, for example earth and weather observation.
Should SpaceX be afraid? Elon Musk aims to launch more than 100 tons into similar orbits with his SpaceX-built Starship, complete with super-heavy booster (higher than 120 meters and nine meters in diameter).
Nevertheless, the design of the RFA One is noteworthy because it is the most powerful rocket from Germany and relies on a high-tech engine (Helix) developed in-house as well as the know-how of the luxury automobile industry.
Targeted series production
Steel and parts from luxury cars become orbital rockets: Like SpaceX, RFA does not use composite materials for production, but rather steel. This is more cost-effective. In addition, modified parts from suppliers of German luxury limousines are used to reduce the cost of the engines. The main advantage: proven series production also reduces costs here.
This is because special components that are primarily developed, built and delivered in small quantities for space travel cost many times more.
This makes the RFA One a product of the new space industry, which could pose a financial threat to Musk’s company if it were to carry lighter loads from European customers. The German rocket could put smaller satellites (weighing up to 500 kilograms) into orbit efficiently and cheaply, promises RFA.
In addition, it operates in other market segments. It was far more expensive and also more powerful. The same applies to the Ariane 6, which is currently being developed. In terms of performance, it is between the RFA One and the Starship, and roughly on a par with SpaceX’s Falcon 9. However, so far only the Musk rockets are reusable. RFA plans to do this in the future.
Preparations for the first flight are still underway. But we already have a rendering of the maiden flight here for you as a video:
RFA One: This is what the launch of the most powerful German orbital rocket could look like
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Rocket engines simply explained, the short form
If the RFA One is remarkable, it is the engine that stands out as a unique piece. It is the first of its kind from the European Union. But to understand this, let’s briefly reinforce the basics:
How do rocket engines work? Whether it was the first rocket engines that powered the Third Reich’s infamous V-terror weapons or the world’s most modern engine called Raptor from SpaceX, they all rely on the same principle: pressure equalization.
It’s always about getting material out of pressurized tanks through a nozzle as quickly as possible. Since the 1940s, we have basically only been able to build much more efficient and powerful engines.
Overpressure thanks to pumps: In order to increase the pressure, all modern engines use turbo pumps. These essentially press previously compressed material into the combustion chamber, where fuel and oxygen are mixed and ignited, expanding explosively. This creates enormous thrust.
However, the pumps have to be powered and this is done by specially installed turbines. These are fed from the normal tanks, the contents of which are used to launch the rocket into orbit. However, with conventional methods, such as the Merlin engines on the Falcon 9, potential thrust is lost because some of the fuel escapes as exhaust gas. The majority of all rocket launches today are carried out by such engines with an open combustion cycle.
The Helix engine: high-tech from Germany
What makes the Helix different? The Helix uses a closed staged combustion cycle. No exhaust gases escape prematurely from the engine. All material reaches the combustion chamber. This is significantly more efficient.
The starting point has historical significance
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Anyone who knows history will recognize the interesting irony of the partnership between Augsburg and the United Kingdom. The V-rockets of the Third Reich once terrorized England. They were powered by nothing other than the forerunners of all modern engines for launch vehicles. In the future, one of the hopes of German space travel will be to launch into orbit from the country of the former enemy – the greatest progress is all too often found in practical cooperation.
There are not many engines like this. The Soviets were the leaders here for a long time. Nowadays, the USA in particular, apart from SpaceX, are relying on this technology. The Space Shuttle used the RS-25 for the first time and NASA still uses the product, which is still considered excellent, for the Space Launch Systems (SLS). Jeff Bezos sells and uses the BE-4 engine newly developed by his company Blue Origin. The Helix is in this quality class.
If you would like to read more about the topic, you can find a longer article exclusively about rocket engines from our colleagues at GameStar-Tech.
Below is a video of a hot-fire test of the RFA One first stage. It’s exactly what it sounds like: it’s going to be fiery. All four installed helix engines will be fired up for extended periods of time and tested across various power levels.
In the final configuration, nine of these will bring the rocket into orbit before the second stage takes over and lifts the payload into the target orbit with a single vacuum-optimized helix. Finally, a third stage with a mini-engine can make further adjustments to the orbit, for example to deploy several payloads one after the other.
Are there other German rockets? Yes, there are. Aside from RFA, Isar Aerospace and HyImpulse are also currently developing and building orbital rockets. The latter even took off for the first time in Australia, albeit with a much smaller and weaker test rocket than the RFA One.
But the two competitors are still exciting. HyImpulse relies on candle wax and Isar Aerospace on manufacturing processes such as 3D printers, even if their Spectrum rocket is less powerful than the RFA One.
If you’re interested, we can also introduce you to the two companies and their rockets, or would you like to read more about SpaceX’s Starship? Write us in the comments! If you’ve now acquired a taste for it or have been regularly thinking about the vastness of space for a long time, you should check out our recommendations for films similar to Interstellar.