SaxaVord shares key update on RFA launch status

The second and third stage of Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA)’s RFA ONE rocket will be delivered to SaxaVord in the coming days, as well as the satellites due to fly aboard the first launch later this year, Saxavord has confirmed.

According to SaxaVord Spaceport Deputy CEO and Operations Director Scott Hammond, the second stage of the rockets and its payloads are due to touch down in the UK by the end of this week, with testing due to take place thereafter.

“This week, we expect the second stage to arrive at SaxaVord,” Hammond revealed at the 2024 Farnborough Airshow on Tuesday. “It will go into our integration hangar, and it’s already been stage tested in Sweden,” he added.

“The third stage will be arriving later next week [as well as] the satellites themselves, so everything is gearing up very much for the next steps in our journey to space.”

It follows the success of the first static fire test on the first stage of its RFA ONE rocket in May, as RFA and SaxaVord continue to forge ahead with their plan to produce the UK’s first vertical orbital launch in Autumn this year.

“That was a historic moment for the United Kingdom,” Hammond said of the test. “That was the very first test of a first stage rocket, that’s going to go up into orbit from UK soil.”

A busy summer at SaxaVord

When assembled, the RFA ONE rocket will stand at 30 meters tall, and be powered by nine of RFA’s own Helix engines. The initial static test involved four Helix engines, with the remaining now on-route to Unst.

“Currently up in Shetland at SaxaVord, we’ve got about 50 rocket engineers from RFA working hard [preparing] to do some cold flow tests later this week,” Hammond revealed.

“And then we’ll be doing a five-engine fire, and finally, all nine engines. That’s really going to be something to behold.”

Hammond was unable to provide any more certainty around the proposed date for the first launch, reiterating again it is planned for Q3 this year. 

A date cannot be finalised until RFA successfully obtains its launch operator license from the UK Civil Aviation Authority, which is still an ongoing process, he said.