SENER Aeroespacial and Rocket Factory Augsburg sign launch service agreement

SENER Aeroespacial and Rocket Factory Augsburg AG (RFA) have agreed on a launch service contract. As a result, SENER Aeroespacial will launch its E.T.PACK technology demonstrator with the RFA ONE micro launcher.

SENER Aeroespacial will launch its small satellite, called E.T.PACK, into near-Earth orbit at mid-inclination. E.T.PACK is a deorbit device that will demonstrate a novel electrodynamic tether technology for deorbiting satellites and launcher upper stages without chemical or electrical propulsion. The flight is of high interest for RFA since the potential adoption of SENER Aeroespacial technology in the future can be an asset for the RFA ONE launch system.

The signing of the agreement took place on October 26 during the IAC 2021 exhibition in Dubai, between the Chief Commercial Officer of RFA, Jörn Spurmann, and the Director of Institutional Space Department of SENER Aeroespacial, Augusto Caramagno.

"We are very pleased to have won SENER Aeroespacial as a customer. After very trusting discussions, we were able to offer a customized launch service tailored precisely to their requirements. We benefited from the fact that we were able to convince SENER Aeroespacial not only with our price, but above all with our service. This speaks for the competitiveness of RFA ONE," says Jörn Spurmann, Chief Commercial Officer of RFA.

“The launch of E.T.PACK with RFA is a wonderful opportunity not only of receiving a high quality service, but also to forge a very profitable cooperation between the two companies. RFA is a perfect partner for our E.T.PACK technology demonstration since the deorbiting of launcher upper stages is a key application for our system” says Augusto Caramagno, Director of Institutional Space Department of SENER Aeroespacial.

E.T.PACK, an autonomous deorbiting kit

E.T.PACK is a FET-OPEN project funded with €3million by the European Commission, developed by SENER Aeroespacial and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) together with other partners of the E.T.PACK’s consortium. This deorbit device is a small “kit” that will be mounted on launcher upper stages and satellites in the future and will allow those spacecrafts to be eliminated at the end-of-life, instead of the actual trend of leaving them in orbit. The drag force on the electrodynamic tether causes the re-entry of the satellite and its elimination at the upper layers of the atmosphere. Unlike conventional technologies, it does not need a propellant and works passively.

E.T.PACK aims to provide a light, low-cost and highly effective system that will be able to communicate with the ground, stabilize a satellite of mass up to 1,000 kg and control the deorbiting maneuver to prevent collisions with other objects.

Therefore, the launch of SENER Aeroespacial’s satellite with the E.T.PACK technology demonstrator will be a decisive step in validating this innovative technology.