German space-launch startup Rocket Factory Augsburg has announced that the first flight of its RFA ONE small satellite launch rocket will carry a commercial payload, from Ukrainian company Lunar Research Service (LRS). The two companies signed the launch service contract in Bremen, Germany, on Thursday.

The first flight of the RFA ONE will take place late next year, from Andøya in Norway. It will carry a research satellite from LRS, designed, and which will use a deployment system developed in-house, by the Ukrainian company. The satellite will gather data that will allow LRS to improve its ground to orbit communications system, and it will also carry and test a solar concentrator intended to be used on a future lunar mission.

“We are very happy to sign with LRS as a customer on our first launch,” affirmed RFA Chief Commercial Officer Jörn Spurmann. “The contract is a demonstration of our attractive rideshare service pricing. We are honoured by the trust from LRS to embark on our maiden launch and are looking forward to its joint preparation. We can hardly wait and are eager to fly customers into orbit.”

“Ridesharing opportunities let new space companies quickly prove their technologies to customers as well as to investors,” pointed out LRS CEO Dmytro Khmara. “At the same time, our customers can significantly reduce their time-to-market. By helping start-ups, research labs and scientists at the earliest stages of their development, we form a solid foundation for long-term partnership[s] during their technology testing.”

The RFA ONE will be produced using industrial automation (ensuring a highly efficient assembly process) and have three stages, the first stage being powered by nine of the company’s in-house developed staged combustion engines, and the second stage by one (for a total of ten). The third stage will be the payload platform and nose cone. The complete rocket will stand 30 m tall, with a diameter of 2 m and will be able to lift a 1 600 kg payload into an orbit similar to that of the International Space Station (which has an inclined east-west orbit at an altitude of about 420 km), or a 650 kg payload into a 2 000 km altitude polar orbit (with various other alternative combinations possible in-between).

LRS produces nanosatellites, tests hardware and integrates space missions. It is focused on both Earth orbit and lunar missions and can enable hardware and software for individual nanosatellites, for constellations and for lunar rovers. It is aiming to soft-land small rovers on the Moon, particularly in the polar regions, to map these areas, characterise their environments and examine the volatile deposits found in them.