French launch startup Dark has announced that they are working with regulators to launch their first mission from France by 2026.
Headquartered in Paris, Dark is working on a two-stage air-launched rocket that will be capable of deploying up to 300 kilograms to low Earth orbit at an altitude of around 500 kilometers. The vehicle is designed with a generic modular architecture to support multiple mission types, including dedicated orbital debris removals.
Launching from France
In order to launch their currently unnamed vehicle from France, Dark is working closely with regulators from both CNES and DGAC (the French civil aviation authority) to follow the company’s roadmap to a 2026 maiden flight.
Current French law governing orbital launch operations was written with a focus on missions launched from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. As a result, these laws make assumptions like nearby population densities and the presence of a large expanse of water under the vehicle’s initial flight path. These assumptions will, of course, need to be reconsidered in order to support missions from mainland Europe.
Speaking to European Spaceflight, cofounder and CEO Clyde Laheyne explained that a working group is currently in the process of examining all existing laws to allow for the implementation of safety measures required for air-launched missions over France. This current phase of the roadmap’s development is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
Two-tier pricing structure
Dark plans to offer dedicated missions at a cost that is competitive with SpaceX rideshare missions. According to Clyde, these missions will be the company’s standard launch service with a minimum lead time of six months before launch. Clyde went on to explain that Dark will also offer a “premium” launch service that will allow access to orbit within the time it takes to integrate a payload with the rocket at a cost lower than that of the Rocket Lab Electron vehicle.
In order to achieve this ambitious target, Dark will rely on the inherently more affordable operational costs of an air-launched system, a unique approach to the company’s accounting, and reusable first-stage boosters that will each be able to support as many as 100 missions.
Dark was founded in 2021 by Clyde Laheyne and Guillaume Orvain. In less than a year of its founding, the company has raised $5 million in pre-seed funding and is set to grow to 15 engineers from around the world. With a driven team and an ambitious goal, it promises to be a European launch startup that we’ll want to keep an eye on.
