Space Energy, a private Russian space company, has launched a prototype of the KAMCHATKA suborbital rocket, the developer's press service reported.
During the test flight, the rocket reached an apogee of 10 km and a speed of over 600 m/s. The rocket's design includes a multi-channel telemetry system, a stage recovery system, a search and video recording system. These were tested during the launch.
The recovery system is implemented according to a two-stage scheme. At the highest point of the trajectory, the first parachute opens for braking, which reduces the descent speed. When descending to a height of about 1 km, the main dome parachute is activated.
A redundant navigation system is used to track the rocket's location. One beacon (in the head of the vehicle) transmits GPS data to the ground station every two seconds. The second beacon, operating on a different frequency, sends coordinates directly to the radio receiving device. This information was transmitted to a team of quadcopter operators who monitored the rocket's movement in real time.
KAMCHATKA is equipped with a solid-propellant rocket engine with an impulse of 10,000 N·s. The engine ran for 8 seconds.
After the company's specialists have tested the results and inspected the engine for defects, preliminary results of the successful launch will be summarized. From these, a conclusion can be drawn about the potential of the product for use in a wide range of tasks - from civilian to defense. We hope that in the near future we will be able to witness a full-fledged private launch in Russia to a height of 100 km.
KAMCHATKA is a single-stage solid-propellant rocket with a length of 2.5 meters and a mass of 58 kg.
Earlier, www1.ru reported that the Russian SR Space will launch its own ultra-light orbital rocket with the help of investors.
