HyPrSpace has announced that it has completed the first of its Terminator hybrid rocket motor that will power the company’s Orbital Baguette 1 (OB-1) rocket.
Founded in 2019, French launch company HyPrSpace is developing a small rocket powered by hybrid rocket motors that will be capable of delivering payloads of up to 250 kilograms to low Earth orbit.
While not the only company pursuing hybrid propulsion technology, the HyPrSpace approach is unique. Its design features a combustion chamber between two cylindrical, solid-fuel grains that encase the liquid oxidizer tank.
In a July 2023 Tweet, HyPrSpace announced that it had completed the first mechanical piece for its Terminator stage demonstrator. The full-scale stage demonstrator is six metres tall and one metre wide and is capable of producing 100 kilonewtons of thrust.
On 4 May 2024, the company shared the first glimpse of the Terminator demonstrator at its facility in Le Haillan, France. According to the update, teams had worked through double shifts over a three-week period to prepare the demonstrator for its test firing. The test will be conducted at a Direction générale de l’armement missile test facility in Gironde, France. HyPrSpace has not yet revealed when the test is expected to take place.
Much like PLD Space and HyImpulse, a German launch company that has recently proved its own hybrid propulsion technology, HyPrSpace plans to initially launch a suborbital rocket called Baguette One. It will then work towards the maiden flight of its OB-1 (pronounced Obi-Wan) rocket, which will be capable of delivering payloads to orbit.
