I must say it’s great being back from vacation and things are really progressing at Coepnhagen Suborbitals.

It is always a pleasure coming back seeing everything that has happened. Peter has started a dedicated task force working the Ø 1.6 meter launch vehicle and they are cutting and bending aluminum parts like mad-men. Peter has also been working both the new TM65 engine and the dedicated HEAT2X-engine. Both running liquid oxygen and alcohol.

A dedicated crew – lead by Captain Soerensen – sailed launch platform Sputnik back from Space Port Nexoe on a 45 hour trip. Normally this is done spending only 25-30 hours but they spiced up the trip by having both engines failing when getting south of Sweden. Luckily they got past the main route for all commercial ships in the Baltic Sea. The crew has been examining the engines this past weeks and got one engine back to nominal status but the other one is only running on half its pistons. Its finished!. Dirty diesel and failed filters seems to be the cause.

Since we need the launch platform for testing the two 1/3 scale capsules with launch escape systems they are working hard buying the new engine and fixing the remaining issues. This is the true power of Copenhagen Suborbitals – dedicated crews working their expertise in the own sections of this manned space program.

Together with René Olsen I have finished the two 1/3 scale model of the capsule with each their towers holding the launch escape engine. Using SolidWorks has been a fast way to design it based on the model from the vertical wind tunnel testing. After finishing the metal work the model was placed on a bench to verify the center of mass – jackpot!

The stability margin during flight is somewhere between 15-40 degrees even with a shifting center of mass during the solid propellant burn. The purpose of the live launch is naturally to see if these results – from the wind tunnel testing – still holds during a real launch.

It's also, of course, a stunning work of art. Photo: Conrad Shawcross, Courtesy of Conrad Shawcross and Victoria Miro Gallery, London Stability margin of the 1/3 scale model. Image: Kristian von Bengtson

Just in case it turns out to be instable the second model has been added 2.5 kg in the nose-cone pushing the center of mass forward. If this does not work as well - its back to the drawing board!

It can be found in the main room at the Roundhouse, a London arts venue, through the end of the month. Photo: Conrad Shawcross, Courtesy of Conrad Shawcross and Victoria Miro Gallery, London Hatch opening. Image: Yours truly

In a couple of week Cameron Smith and John Hasslet will be here with their DIY space suit. As posted earlier there are many tests to be performed while they are here and we plan to have a complete session of building a seat mock-up - trying ingress and egress donned an inflated suit.

For this purpose I have added the hatch opening with a diameter of 550 mm. This diameter is based on a contemporary internal structure design but if it turns out to be too small I will just replace it with a new design. This is why we work a boilerplate in plain carbon steel. A fast, cheap and easy design process.

This boilerplate was also added the bottom structure to hold the seat and to avoid damage during future splash down tests.

This week I will begin the basic seating frame together with intern Sylvester and begin painting and pimping the two capsules for the launch escape test.

But in motion, those arms produce a delicate dance of light and shadow. Photo: Conrad Shawcross, Courtesy of Conrad Shawcross and Victoria Miro Gallery, London

Interesting times indeed!

Ad Astra

Kristian von Bengtson