 | |
| OrbitX | |
| Formerly | OrbX |
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Founded | June 2, 2019 |
| Headquarters | |
Key people |
|
| Products |
|
| Website | orbitalxploration |
Orbital Exploration Technologies, Inc., also known as Orbital Exploration or OrbitX, is a Philippine aerospace and space transportation company.
OrbitX was established on June 2, 2019 as OrbX, [1] a private venture by a group of youth including Dexter Baño Jr., Enzo Victor, and Paulo Sairel. [2] OrbitX's short term goal is to develop the first indigenous reusable rocket, and the long-term goal is to send the first Filipino to Mars and back. [3] OrbitX is known as the Philippines' first commercial spaceflight company. [4] [5]
Its first flagship project is the Haribon SLS-1 launch vehicle. OrbitX started a crowdfunding campaign which received support from Southeast Asian firm and Genix Ventures and other private individuals. It also received a two-year funding of $6,500 for research purposes from the Amazon Web Services. [6]
| Function | Small-lift Orbital launch vehicle |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | OrbitX |
| Country of origin | Philippines |
| Capacity | |
| Payload to 200km LEO | |
| Launch history | |
| Status | In development |
| Total launches | 0 |
| First flight | 2023–2024 (planned) |
OrbitX is developing its own space launch vehicle which it dubs as the Haribon SLS-1. [4] It is to be propelled using components also to be developed by OrbitX: Tamaraw Rocket Engine and RP-2 fuel, a plastic-derived fuel. RP-2 gets its named from RP-1, the refined kerosene that is typically used in rockets. [4] [5] As of January 2021, the project is in the Technology Readiness Level 4 phase of development with its components still being validated in a laboratory environment. [6] It is projected to carry a payload of 200 kilograms (440 lb) into low Earth orbit. The company plans to have the maiden launch of the Haribon SLS-1 sometime between 2023 and 2024. [6]
Among OrbitX's research is the potential use of algae as biofuel for both small and large-scale space launch vehicles. The company has noted that algae-derived biofuel has already had prior used on aircraft; particularly in a Houston–Chicago Boeing 737 flight. [2] It is also developing, OrbitX RP-2, its own proprietary fuel derived from pyrolysis-processed waste plastic. [7]
On February 10, 2021, OrbitX teased about their in-house cryptocurrency. [8] On February 12, 2021, OrbitX announced the cryptocurrency named Orbital Coin or ORBX, as they'll also fund the rocket using their in-house cryptocurrency.
On July 5, 2021, OrbitX announced their initial coin offering, as scheduled on July 20. ORBX was developed by ProofSys.io and OrbitX. [9]
OrbitX relays its findings and developments to the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA), the national space agency of the Philippine government, although OrbitX itself is a private venture and is independent from PhilSA. [6] It also has partnerships and affiliations with the Space4Impact and Space Impulse, the Green Party of the Philippines, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, and the government's Department of Environment and Natural Resources. [7]
An expendable launch system is a launch vehicle that can be launched only once, after which its components are either destroyed during reentry or discarded in space. ELVs typically consist of several rocket stages that are discarded sequentially as their fuel is exhausted and the vehicle gains altitude and speed. As of 2024, fewer and fewer satellites and human spacecraft are launched on ELVs in favor of reusable launch vehicles. However, there are many instances where a ELV may still have a compelling use case over a reusable vehicle. ELVs are simpler in design than reusable launch systems and therefore may have a lower production cost. Furthermore, an ELV can use its entire fuel supply to accelerate its payload, offering greater payloads. ELVs are proven technology in widespread use for many decades.
The Lockheed Martin X-33 was a proposed uncrewed, sub-scale technology demonstrator suborbital spaceplane that was developed for a period in the 1990s. The X-33 was a technology demonstrator for the VentureStar orbital spaceplane, which was planned to be a next-generation, commercially operated reusable launch vehicle. The X-33 would flight-test a range of technologies that NASA believed it needed for single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicles, such as metallic thermal protection systems, composite cryogenic fuel tanks for liquid hydrogen, the aerospike engine, autonomous (uncrewed) flight control, rapid flight turn-around times through streamlined operations, and its lifting body aerodynamics.
Private spaceflight refers to spaceflight activities undertaken by non-governmental entities, such as corporations, individuals, or non-profit organizations. This contrasts with public spaceflight, which is traditionally conducted by government agencies like NASA, ESA, or JAXA.
Merlin is a family of rocket engines developed by SpaceX. They are currently a part of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, and were formerly used on the Falcon 1. Merlin engines use RP-1 and liquid oxygen as rocket propellants in a gas-generator power cycle. The Merlin engine was originally designed for sea recovery and reuse, but since 2016 the entire Falcon 9 booster is recovered for reuse by landing vertically on a landing pad using one of its nine Merlin engines.
Shuttle-derived vehicles (SDV) are space launch vehicles and spacecraft that use components, technology, and infrastructure originally developed for the Space Shuttle program.
This is a timeline of first orbital launches by country. While a number of countries, incl. Canada, Australia, Germany, Brazil, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Argentina, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa, the Philippines, Egypt, Spain, Mexico, Thailand and Chile, have built or launched satellites, as of 2022, eleven countries, incl. the United States, Japan, China, India, Iran, Israel, France, the United Kingdom and South Korea, have had the capability to send objects into orbit with their own launch vehicles. Russia and Ukraine inherited the capability of the space launchers and satellites from the Soviet Union, following its dissolution in 1991. Russia launches its rockets from its own and foreign (Kazakh) spaceports.
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) was a NASA program to spur the development of private spacecraft and launch vehicles for deliveries to the International Space Station (ISS). Launched in 2006, COTS successfully concluded in 2013 after completing all demonstration flights.
The Ares V was the planned cargo launch component of the cancelled NASA Constellation program, which was to have replaced the Space Shuttle after its retirement in 2011. Ares V was also planned to carry supplies for a human presence on Mars. Ares V and the smaller Ares I were named after Ares, the Greek god of war.
The retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet took place from March to July 2011. Discovery was the first of the three active Space Shuttles to be retired, completing its final mission on March 9, 2011; Endeavour did so on June 1. The final shuttle mission was completed with the landing of Atlantis on July 21, 2011, closing the 30-year Space Shuttle program.
The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. As the primary launch vehicle of the Artemis Moon landing program, SLS is designed to launch the crewed Orion spacecraft on a trans-lunar trajectory. The first SLS launch was the uncrewed Artemis 1, which took place on 16 November 2022.
The space program of the Philippines is currently maintained by the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) together with various agencies under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). The space program includes space research and development, and is funded through the National SPACE Development Program (NSDP) by the DOST and received an initial budget of ₱1 billion in 2020.
Space launch market competition is the manifestation of market forces in the launch service provider business. In particular it is the trend of competitive dynamics among payload transport capabilities at diverse prices having a greater influence on launch purchasing than the traditional political considerations of country of manufacture or the national entity using, regulating or licensing the launch service.
A super heavy-lift launch vehicle is a rocket that can lift to low Earth orbit a "super heavy payload", which is defined as more than 50 metric tons (110,000 lb) by the United States and as more than 100 metric tons (220,000 lb) by Russia. It is the most capable launch vehicle classification by mass to orbit, exceeding that of the heavy-lift launch vehicle classification.
i-Space —also known as Space Honor, Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Ltd., Interstellar Glory or StarCraft Glory—is a Chinese private space technology development and space launch company based in Beijing, founded in October 2016.
The Artemis program is a Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. It is intended to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The program's stated long-term goal is to establish a permanent base on the Moon to facilitate human missions to Mars.
Artemis 4 is a planned mission of the NASA-led Artemis program. The mission will include the fourth use of a Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle, will send an Orion spacecraft with four astronauts to the Lunar Gateway space station, install a new module on the Gateway, and conduct the second lunar landing of the Artemis program.
The Boeing Human Landing System (HLS) was the name of a proposed lunar lander concept by Boeing that was submitted by Boeing to NASA on 5 November 2019 as part of the Artemis program and the NextSTEP H. The proposal was presented as the "quickest and simplest method" for a 2024 Moon landing. The lunar lander concept was not selected for funding by NASA as part of Artemis in the 30 April 2020 announcement.
BluShift Aerospace is an employee-owned American aerospace firm based in Brunswick, Maine. Targeting the growing smallsat and cubesat launch markets, bluShift is developing suborbital sounding rockets and small-lift orbital rockets which will be launched from a proposed new spaceport in Maine. The company has received primary funding from NASAs SBIR grant program, the National Science Foundations I-Corps grant program, the Maine Technology Institute, and the Maine Space Grant Consortium. The company has active operations at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station and Loring Air Force Base.
| Programs |
|   |
|---|---|---|
| In development |
| |
| Operational |
| |
| Previous | ||
| Facilities |
| |
| Related organizations | ||