The Ukrainian private space company Promin Aerospace, despite the difficult situation in the country, continues to work on a rocket of the original design. The first test launch is scheduled for the first half of 2023. In a recent interview, the founder of the startup said that even if the prototype could not be sent to fly at home, the timing should not change much.
SpaceNews portal is following the fate of Promin Aerospace and recently talked with the head of the company — Misha Rudominsky. The co-founder and director of the startup shared the project schedule with journalists. He did not announce exact dates, but the first launch of an experimental rocket is scheduled for early 2023. The specific place and time of the launch will depend solely on the Ukrainian regulators. Which, admittedly, in the current circumstances may not allow experiments with rocket technology.
However, Rudominsky is not discouraged: even if it will not be possible to hold the first launch of Promin Aerospace at home, there are alternative options. Earlier, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with the Scottish spaceport under construction in Sutherland. By the beginning of 2023, the site should be ready, and a Ukrainian startup can launch there.
The location of the test stands and the production site is kept secret by Promin Aerospace. But occasionally publishes heavily cropped photos from engine tests on his TwitterImage Source: Promin Aerospace
The ambitious startup Promin Aerospace appeared in 2021 in Dnipro, the historical center of the space industry of Ukraine. It is there that the Yuzhmash and Yuzhnoye Design Bureau enterprises are located, where Zenit carriers were produced, as well as R-36M missiles (the same "Satan"), Cosmos and Cyclone were developed.
The backbone of the Promin Aerospace team is the already mentioned Rudominsky and Vitaly Yemets, chief engineer. Over the past couple of years, Yemets has published several scientific papers on the use of "self-devouring" (autophagy) rocket engines. In fact, this is the main highlight of the company's developments. Such engines have less mass than solid-fuel counterparts with similar thrust.
In principle, such an "autophagy" is a hybrid engine: in it, solid fuel forms the walls and the central part of the combustion chamber, through which a liquid or gaseous oxidizer is pumped. It turns out that the rocket literally devours its structural elements during operation.
The first launch will be at a height of only 100 meters, this is just a test of the concept in "combat" conditions. Before that, Promin Aerospace conducted multiple bench tests of the engine. The finished carrier will fall into the class of ultralight rockets, perhaps even geophysical (suborbital). Although the prospectuses on the startup's website state delivery from 100 grams to three kilograms to a sun-synchronous orbit (600-800 kilometers high). The height of the rocket will be from four to eight meters, the diameter — from 20 to 45 centimeters. Judging by the spread of parameters, the final appearance of the product has not yet been finalized.
In an interview, Rudominsky noted that the last few months have been particularly productive, although the company is severely short of funding. The last round of investor search began on February 22 and ended immediately for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, Promin Aerospace rationally uses the remnants of previously received funds (about 500 thousand dollars from a private fund) and even manages to attract large investors: in August, Google allocated a grant of 100 thousand dollars to the startup.
