10月26日，駐洛杉磯科技組安排台灣第一家開發商用運載小火箭公司晉陞太空科技公司(TiSpace)董事長陳彥升率領的訪問團一行七人，與台灣旅居洛杉磯地區的航太及衛星學人Wittinghill航太公司副總裁Jerry Chen (陳證元博士），及NASA JPL資深工程師劉登凱博士、袁大寧博士、賴常青博士，以及台灣工程師協會南加分會會長吳爾融博士、台美航太協會陳立涵博士等餐敘交流。陳彥升一行係參加完在華府舉行的國際航太會議(IAC)後過境洛杉磯。
晉陞太空科技公司(TiSpace)獲得著名航太雜誌新聞網(Aviation Week Network)報導，介紹TiSpace有能力以其競爭者10%的發射成本，提供低軌衛星發射服務。引起全球航太界的注意。
董事長陳彥升表示晉陞首次發射預定在本年(2019)年底在台東進行，明年4月在台東再進行一次試射，12月在加州范登堡空軍基地進行首度海外試射。晉陞主要從事商用運載火箭之研發服務，並且擁有台灣首屈一指的技術團隊，提供國內外發射奈微米衛星的創新服務，打造100% MIT的商用衛星的發射載具，提升台灣在太空產業的地位及在開創全球衛星IoT的網路新世界，貢獻台灣人的技術與智慧。主要商品奈微米衛星運載火箭之發射及日後低軌衛星系統維修服務，員工人數已有100餘人，火箭全部在台灣設計開發製造，是百分之百的台灣製造。陳彥升相信以台灣在電子、資通產業的工業能力有機會在6G、7G...無線通訊領域佔有一席之地，有機會為台灣開創新的產業。晉陞規劃如一切進行順利，將在2020年於航太重鎮的洛杉磯成立據點，服務客戶。
Taiwanese Company Aims At Launch Costs 10% Of Competitors’
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
Oct 24, 2019
Bradley Perrett
Hot fire test of Tispace 1-metric-ton-thrust engine: Tispace
A Taiwanese company plans to enter the market for light space launches with what it says will be 10% of the costs of current major operators, thanks to an efficient production setup and use of hybrid solid-liquid propulsion.
Launch of a two-stage demonstrator rocket is scheduled for November, to be followed by monthly launches of larger production rockets in 2021, said Yen-Sen Chen, founder and CEO of the company, Taiwan Innovation Space (Tispace).
At first, each launch by the expendable, three-stage Hapith V production rocket will be priced at $6-7 million, Chen said. This will deliver up to 390 kg (860 lb.) to a low-inclination orbit of 600- 700 km (370-430 mi.). “We have lots of room for a lower price,” Chen added, since costs would be so low.
The initial production facility near Taipei, with a capacity of 12 rockets a year, will be able to achieve the targeted cost of 10% of competitors’, Chen said. But the company is looking for a larger site farther south for a plant that could build 100 rockets a year.
Engines of the Hapith V and the Hapith 1 demonstrator are almost devoid of machinery. Being hybrid, they do not require the elaborate production and handling facilities of potentially explosive solid-propellant motors.
The fuel is a special hard rubber, made in Taiwan. The oxidizer is nitrous oxide fed to the engine by tank pressure, which begins at 6 MPa (870 psi.) at launch, falling to 1 MPa at the time of engine cutoff; there are no turbo pumps.
Tispace has tested engines of various thrust levels. Specific impulse, a measure of propulsion efficiency, will be 270 sec. for the first stage and 301 sec. for the second and third, the company estimates. This is regarded as adequate rather than exceptional, since the most important engine characteristic is simplicity and adaptability to low-cost production.
A contractor will supply the fuel in the single cylindrical block needed for each engine, Chen said. No trimming or other adjustment of shape will be required. Insulation will be placed manually on the fuel blocks, then uncured carbon fiber composite will be laid around them automatically to create the case. The engine will then go into an oven for unpressurized curing of the composite at 90C (190F).
The oxidizer tanks will similarly be made automatically with the same, T800-grade carbon fiber composite. The company chose carbon fiber in preference to the usual aluminum to reduce weight. The company also believes carbon fiber suits low-cost fabrication. About 90% of the Hapith V structure is made of the material.
The engines use commercially available valves and stainless steel piping. Injectors, of proprietary design, will be made with 3D printing.
Attitude control is effected in the first stage by venting nitrous oxide and in the second and third stages by gimballing the engines (that is, the encased rubber blocks).
Chen set up the company in 2016, having previously worked for Taiwan’s National Space Organization. It has 105 employees, he said, speaking on the sidelines of the International Astronautical Congress, held in Washington Oct. 21-25.
The demonstrator is complete and ready for its Nov. 28 launch. It has a weight of 3.04 metric tons and launch thrust of 7.92 metric tons.
The company has begun making the first Hapith V. That 20-m (66-ft.) design has a weight of 35 metric tons and launch thrust of 65 metric tons from five engines. The second stage has four engines and 8 metric tons of thrust; the third has one engine generating 1 metric tons of thrust. Payload to Sun-synchronous orbit is 350 kg.
The company’s launch site is at the southern end of Taiwan, facing the empty Pacific Ocean. With inhabited islands to the north and south, Taiwan is unsuitable for launches to Sun- synchronous orbit, so Tispace is looking at options in Scandinavia. Australia is also a possibility.
Rockets are to be moved to the Taiwanese launch site by truck and to the chosen foreign one by air.
