Major Rocket Factory Augsburg shareholder OHB has revealed that the inaugural RFA ONE rocket launch attempt could occur in “a matter of weeks.”
Founded in 2018, Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) is developing a three-stage rocket called RFA ONE. The rocket will stand 30 metres tall and is designed to be capable of delivering payloads of up to 1,300 kilograms to low Earth orbit. To date, the company has raised approximately €64 million to develop its rocket and complete an inaugural flight.
The announcement that the debut of the RFA ONE rocket is potentially just “weeks” away, as first reported by SpaceNews, was revealed by OHB Chief Executive Marco Fuchs on 8 August during the company’s 2024 half-year earnings call.
All three stages of the first RFA ONE rocket have been shipped to the company’s launch site at SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland. While the rocket’s second and third stages have already been certified fit for flight, the company is still working toward a fully integrated first stage hot fire test.
The company has thus far completed two short hot fire tests of the RFA ONE first stage with four of its Helix rocket engines installed. According to Fuchs, all nine engines that will power the first stage have since been installed, and RFA is preparing to attempt a full static fire test of the stage.
First RFA ONE rocket payload
In April 2022, RFA won a DLR microlauncher competition. In exchange for the €11 million in prize money, RFA committed to launching payloads totaling 150 kilograms on each of its first two RFA ONE flights on behalf of the German space agency.
In December 2022, RFA announced that a total of seven companies had been selected by DLR to launch payloads aboard the maiden RFA flight, totaling 136 kilograms. The companies selected were TU Munich, SPACEMIND, Planetary Transportations Systems, AMSAT-Deutschland, DCUBED, and Kinetik Space.
