The European Space Agency has awarded €2.4 million in co-funding to Poland’s SpaceForest for further development of its Perun rocket.
ESA awarded the funding as part of the agency’s Boost! initiative. Adopted by member states in 2019, Boost! aims to foster the development of new commercial space transportation services. It awards partial funding, which it refers to as “co-funding,” for specific development goals.
SpaceForest has developed an 11.5-metre-tall sounding rocket capable of carrying payloads of up to 50 kilograms to an altitude of 150 kilometres. To date, the company has completed two test flights, one reaching an altitude of 22 kilometers and another topping out at 13 kilometres. The company had targeted a 50-kilometre maximum altitude, but both flights experienced anomalies that prevented them from achieving that milestone.
With the €2.4 million in ESA funding, SpaceForest will implement upgrades to the combustion chamber of its in-house developed SF1000 paraffin-powered hybrid rocket engine. Once that process is complete, the company will conduct demonstrations of its Perun rocket to 50, 80, 100, and 150 kilometres in altitude to validate the design.
In addition to the work on its SF1000 rocket engine, the funding will also go toward designing a mobile refueling station, ground support station, and tracking and communication system. These systems will be designed to be transported by general road vehicles for added agility.
