Industry Aerospace Website www.s-3.ch Founded 2012 | Headquarters Payerne, Switzerland Founder Pascal Jaussi | |
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Key people Pascal Jaussi (CEO)
Claude Nicollier (Chairman) Products Satellite launch/Space tourism | ||
Swiss space systems introduction
Swiss Space Systems (S3) was a - now insolvent - company which planned to provide orbital launches of miniaturized satellites and manned suborbital spaceflights. The company was based in Payerne in western Switzerland, near Payerne Air Base, where it planned to build a spaceport in 2015. Suborbital spaceplanes will be launched from an Airbus A300, giving the spacecraft more initial speed and altitude than if it were launched from the ground. The spacecraft, in turn, will release a disposable third stage.
Contents
- Swiss space systems introduction
- History
- SOAR
- Future launch projections
- Spaceport plans
- S3 ZeroG
- S3 CEO Jaussi attacked
- References
As of March 2013, the company planned to charge 10 million CHF (US$10.5 million) for a launch, using unmanned suborbital spaceplanes that could carry satellites weighing up to 250 kilograms (550 lb). The costs were expected to be reduced by the reusable nature of the spaceplane and launch facilities and by somewhat lower fuel-consumption than conventional systems.
In 2013, S3 also hoped to develop a manned version of its suborbital spaceplane, in order to provide supersonic intercontinental flights to paying customers. According to CEO Pascal Jaussi: "Far from wishing to launch into the space tourism market, we want rather to establish a new mode of air travel based on our satellite launch model that will allow spaceports on different continents to be reached in an hour."
As of March 2013, project partners included the European Space Agency, Dassault Aviation and the Von Karman Institute.
According to Swiss state television, Swiss Space Systems is heavily indebted. In 2016, Swiss Space Systems asked to delay bankruptcy procedures, as new funds from Singapore bank Axios Credit are expected. However, news tabloid Blick reported that Singapore authorities declared that Axios is not a licensed bank. On 14 December 2016, Swiss Space Systems was declared bankrupt in the civil court of Broye and North Vaud.
History
S3 was founded in 2012 by Pascal Jaussi, a pilot and engineer, and joined by astronaut Claude Nicollier. The inauguration was held on 13 March 2013 at Payerne Airport. Initial plans call for the company to open its first spaceport by 2015 and begin test launches by 2015 (Airbus) and 2017 (shuttle). More spaceports are planned for Malaysia, Morocco and North America.
SOAR
2013 plans called for S3 to develop a suborbital spaceplane named SOAR that would launch a microsat launch vehicle capable of putting a payload of up to 250 kilograms (550 lb) into low Earth orbit. As of October 2013, "S3 hopes to achieve horizontal launch with its small satellite deployment system by 2018". In July 2014, S3 announced a partnership with North Bay, Ontario, Canada and Canadore College to start drop-test flights of a reduced-scale version the SOAR at Jack Garland Airport (CYYB).
In addition to manned sub-orbital spaceflights, SOAR would also enable high-speed commercial flights (over Mach 3), allowing, for instance, passengers to reach Sydney from Geneva in only a few hours.
Future launch projections
The first launch is scheduled for 2018, with CleanSpace One as payload.
Spaceport plans
In October 2013, Swiss Space Systems signed a memorandum of understanding with Spaceport Colorado in the US to allow the spaceport to be a Swiss Space Systems' potential future North American launch site. In March 2014, a subsidiary was opened at the Kennedy Space Center to allow Swiss Space Systems to use the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) for its operations.
Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain) will be the first European operations center as S3 will launch satellites from there in 2018. This will also be the first European location where S3 will operate Zero-‐G flights.
S3 ZeroG
S3 ZeroG is a part of Swiss Space Systems Holding SA offering flights in reduced gravity aircraft, a modified Airbus A300. Aircraft is divided in 3 sections, with prices between 1990 € for a party zone with 40 passengers to 50000 € for a tailor-made experience. Each flight includes 15 parabolas during which aircraft dives at 45° angle from 10,400 to 7,300 m (34,000 to 24,000 ft), giving 20–25 seconds of microgravity on board. S3 ZeroG aircraft will travel to numerous different countries around the world, starting in Switzerland during the second half of 2015. At the end of 2016, the company was announcing first parabolic flights in January 2017, however, according to astronaut Claude Nicollier, who is President of the Committee of Experts of Swiss Space Systems, "it is absolutely impossible, it needs an official authorization and it will take months, if not years".
S3 CEO Jaussi attacked
On August 26, 2016, Pascal Jaussi was abducted by unknown assailants, beaten, showered with a flammable liquid and badly burned. Swiss newspapers report that the company is heavily indebted. In the years 2015 and 2016, bailiffs collected between 3 and 4 Million Swiss Francs. Creditworthiness is deemed low.
In January 2017 it was reported that Jaussi might have staged the attack himself, to save his bankrupt company.