OTRAG
| Industry | Alternative propulsion system for rockets |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1975 |
| Founder | Lutz Kayser |
| Headquarters | Stuttgart, Germany |
OTRAG (German: Orbital Transport und Raketen AG, or Orbital Transport and Rockets, Inc.), was a German company based in Stuttgart, which planned in the late 1970s and early 1980s to develop an alternative propulsion system for rockets. OTRAG was the first commercial developer and producer of space launch vehicles. The OTRAG Rocket claimed to present an inexpensive alternative to existing launch systems through mass-production of Common Rocket Propulsion Units (CRPU).
OTRAG was founded in 1975 by the German aerospace engineer Lutz Kayser. Its goal was to develop, produce, and operate a radically different, low cost, satellite launch vehicle.
The OTRAG rocket was intended to be an inexpensive alternative to the European rocket Ariane and the NASA space shuttle. Kayser and a private consortium of six hundred European investors financed the development and production of the OTRAG satellite launch vehicle. Dr. Kurt H. Debus served as Chairman of the Board of OTRAG after his retirement as director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, and Dr. Wernher von Braun served as scientific adviser to Kayser.
In the face of doubts by Debus and von Braun, Kayser chose in 1975 to set up testing and launch facilities in Shaba, Zaire (now Katanga Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Debus and von Braun were concerned about the possibility of Zairian acquisition of missile technology from the facilities. Kayser decided to proceed despite their opposition, and testing began at the site in 1977.
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