Launcher Space (acquired by Vast Space in February 2023) was an American aerospace company that developed launch vehicles and rocket engines for small satellites. They focused on creating efficient liquid propellant rocket engines, like the E-2, utilizing liquid oxygen and kerosene. Their primary offering was low-cost rockets designed to deploy small satellites into orbit. Keywords associated with Launcher Space include: launch vehicle, rocket engine, small satellites, orbital transfer vehicle.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
ESA is providing the Smile payload module that carries three of the four scientific instruments, the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) instrument, the launcher, and Assembly, Integration and Test facilities and services.
Launcher halted plans to develop its own launch vehicle after being acquired by Vast.
Launcher was acquired by Vast Space between the Transporter-6 and Transporter-8 Orbiter missions.
Launcher purchased Virgin Orbit’s Mojave test site at the 2023-05-22 auction.
Launcher discontinued plans to build a launch vehicle after its acquisition by Vast but will continue work on the E-2 rocket engine and plans to offer the engine to other customers.
Launcher, a launch vehicle company acquired by Vast in February, bid $2,700,000 for Virgin Orbit’s lease on a test site in Mojave, California along with machinery, equipment, and inventory there.
Vast acquired launch services company Launcher on 2023-02-21 for an undisclosed amount.
Sapling-1 will be deployed from Launcher Space’s Launcher Orbiter vehicle approximately one week after the Transporter-6 launch.
Seven additional companies, including Atomos, Exotrail, Firefly Aerospace, Launcher, Space Machines, Exolaunch, and Impulse Space, are preparing to enter the market with initial flights scheduled in the next three years.
U.S. Space Force awarded Launcher Space $1,700,000 on 2022-05-18 to further develop the company’s E-2 engine.
Launcher Space tested the E-2 engine at NASA Stennis Space Center and demonstrated the highest-performing liquid oxygen and kerosene rocket engine combustion chamber in the United States.
Launcher won a separate SBIR award from the U.S. Air Force in 2019 valued at $1,500,000 for E-2 engine development.
Launcher signed a multi-launch contract with SpaceX on 2022-02-07 for three additional Orbiter missions.
Launcher acquired the AMCM M 4K additive manufacturing system from AMCM, an EOS Group company.
The Space Act Agreement between Launcher and Stennis is a long-term agreement intended to allow Launcher to perform full-scale E-2 engine tests at the site.
Launcher has signed a Space Act Agreement with Stennis Space Center to use the E-1 test stand for tests of its E-2 engine.
In less than five months from its initial submission Launcher won the $1,500,000 Air Force SBIR contract.
The U.S. Air Force awarded Launcher $1,500,000 to accelerate development and testing of its E-2 rocket engine.