Copenhagen Suborbitals
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| Non-profit, amateur, all-volunteer organisation | |
| Founded | May 1, 2008 |
| Headquarters | Refshaleøen, Copenhagen, Denmark Coordinates: 55°41′29.1″N 12°37′1.21″E / 55.691417°N 12.6170028°E |
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Key people
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Chairman: Kristian Elof Sørensen Executive officer: Morten Bulskov Bookkeeper: Carsten Olsen Communication officer: Mads Wilson Space strategist: Thomas Pedersen Space medicine: Niels Foldager |
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Number of employees
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55 (all volunteering) |
| Website | www |
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| Video | |
 HEAT1X-Tycho launch highlights on YouTube
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Lecture by Kristian von Bengtson on TEDx
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Today Show video
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Chairman: Kristian Elof Sørensen
Executive officer: Morten Bulskov Bookkeeper: Carsten Olsen Communication officer: Mads Wilson Space strategist: Thomas Pedersen
Copenhagen Suborbitals is the world's only manned, amateur, crowd funded space programme. Under the leadership of founders Kristian von Bengtson and Peter Madsen it has flown 4 home built rockets and 2 mock-up space capsules. Eventually, one of the members will fly into space (above 100 km) in a space capsule on the Spica rocket. The next step is launching the Nexø I and II rockets in 2016, which also will see the design start of the big BPM-100 Spica rocket engine.
As an amateur organisation, the 55 members use their spare time on the project, while at the same time having regular dayjobs. At the annual general assembly, they elect a chairman and boardmembers. Currently, (2015) the chairman is Kristian Elof Sørensen, who also leads the Copenhagen Suborbitals maritime group.
Their use of relatively simple solutions for complex problems has also helped set Copenhagen Suborbitals apart; examples of this approach can be seen in their preference for simple mechanical solutions over more complex electronic ones, and their avoidance of potentially restrictive red tape by the use of lightly regulated technology in their projects.
As of 2015, 3 members are candidates for becoming the first astronaut to fly on the Spica rocket:
Since the first manned flight is several years away, this could very well change before training and selection start.
Funding comes from people all over the world donating to the project, many of them on a monthly basis as members of Copenhagen Suborbitals Support. This is augmented by fees from speeches and lectures done by group members. Also, in 2015 Copenhagen Suborbitals are teaching students from the National Technical University of Singapore in basic rocket design, for which the group also receives a fee. All money goes directly to the group's project, with all members working completely for free.
A unique aspect of the project is that all rockets are launched at sea. This concept was introduced in 2009 by Peter Madsen. As a non-governmental, non-commercial organisation, flying rockets from land is virtually impossible anywhere in the world. Therefore, the group conducts all flights from a mobile launch platform, MLP Sputnik, in international waters on the Baltic Sea, east of the Danish island Bornholm. The port of Nexø becomes the Copenhagen Suborbitals fleet's homeport during the summer launch missions, affectionately dubbed Spaceport Nexø. The group operates 3 ships:
During missions, the 3 vessels are augmented by multiple ships (including a patrol vessel from the Danish Navy), boats and aircraft. When not deployed, Vostok and Sputnik are based at Copenhagen Suborbitals HQ in the port of Copenhagen.
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Wikipedia