Norway's munitions and missile company Nammo Raufoss successfully launched a 10 meter long hybrid test rocket from Andøya Rocket Range in the Lofoten Islands, northern Norway, last week. The propulsion system of the hybrid rocket was based on solid fuel and liquid oxygen held in separate compartments.
Nammo designed the Hybrid Test Rocket (HTR)'s rocket motor, tank and valve system and its mobile Ground Support Equipment (GSE) in cooperation with Lockheed Martin Michoud Operations of New Orleans, Louisiana. Production, testing and launch were the sole responsibility of the Norwegian company. The Andøya Rocket Range facility was responsible for developing and building the telemetry payload and for providing launch services. The firing was the first-ever of a liquid oxygen-based rocket from Andøya.
According to Nammo, the successful launch of the HTR demonstrates the company's ability to build rockets in which the fuel is stored separately in one solid component and one liquid component according to the hybrid propulsion concept. That would offer solutions which are both safe and environmentally friendly, Nammo says.
In a May 8 statement, Nammo says that the HTR project was designed to acquire hybrid technology know-how. "With the successful launch, we have strengthened our position as one of the leading suppliers in Europe for the development and production of rocket motors for tactical missiles and space applications," the company says.
--Joris Janssen Lok
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