The project

Northspacelab is a concept for a small, autonomous research rocket from Zurich. Today there is the idea, a first concept and this website. Nothing has been built yet.

Northspacelab is a private project. Details of the responsible party are in the legal notice. To the legal notice

The purpose of every flight: bring experiments where measurements from the ground are not possible. The goal is the Kármán line at 100 kilometres, where space begins by the common definition. Afterwards, parachutes are meant to bring the rocket and its experiments back.

After launch the rocket is meant to fly without remote control: navigation, steering and control run on board in a closed loop.

These are goals of the concept, not promises.

The concept divides the rocket into 14 part positions, grouped into four trades. Design, propulsion and mass are not final.

1. Pos. 01–03

   Payload

   Under the two-part nose fairing sit the experiments: modules on three decks with a measuring head and optics above. The rocket flies for them.

   01 Nose tip and probe · 02 Nose fairing · 03 Research payload
2. Pos. 04–06

   Avionics and recovery

   Flight computer, inertial sensors, navigation and power supply: this is where autonomy comes from. Above them lie the parachutes meant to bring everything back.

   04 Recovery · 05 Avionics and autonomy · 06 Forward shell
3. Pos. 07–10

   Tanks and pressure system

   Oxidiser and fuel in separate tanks, with pressure tanks and regulators in between. The shell carries the loads.

   07 Oxidiser tank · 08 Pressure system · 09 Fuel tank · 10 Tank shell
4. Pos. 11–14

   Propulsion

   Thrust frame, combustion chamber with cooling channels and nozzle. Four fins keep the rocket on course.

   11 Thrust frame · 12 Aft section and fins · 13 Combustion chamber · 14 Nozzle

See the rocket taken apart

The project is planned in phases 0 to 3. We are in phase 0. There are no dates.

1. Phase 0 · current

   Idea and concept

   Mission, requirements and a first overall design.

2. Phase 1 · open

   Design and simulation

   Playing through trajectory, structure and control on the computer.

3. Phase 2 · open

   Ground tests

   Build subsystems and test them individually before they come together.

4. Phase 3 · open

   First flight

   When everything works on the ground and the approvals are in place.

To the roadmap

• Start small

  Compact also means: build, test and learn faster. Test subsystems individually first, then bring them together.

• Safety first

  Flight corridor, geofence and exclusion zones are part of the design from the start, not an afterthought.

• Work in the open

  We show what we are working on, not what is already finished. What is open, we call open.