TiSPACE Hapith V

Taiwan TiSPACE Co., Ltd. is Taiwan ’s first private aerospace rocket manufacturer and small satellite launch service provider. It was founded by Chen Yansheng, a former US National Aeronautics and Space Administration and National Space Center Taiwan engineer in 2016. The company develops light launch vehicles and provides commercial rocket launch services.

TiSPACE (Taiwan Innovative Space) is the first Taiwanese private company that specializes in developing space technologies and provides launch services. It was established in 2016 by a group of rocket scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs who wanted to boost the space industry in its overall competitiveness. Among them is Dr. Yen-Sen Chen, a well known researcher in the field of aerospace engineering and rocket science. He has extensive experience in researching and developing novel hybrid rocket propulsion systems. Dr. Chen initiated the hybrid rocket system developments of Taiwan in 2009, aiming at viable designs of cutting-edge, non-explosive, environmentally friendly and cost-effective space launch platforms.

The introduction of Hapith V to the space launch service market was initiated to satisfy the increasing commercial demand of placing micro and small satellites into low Earth orbits (LEO). The Hapith V launch vehicle has two distinguishing qualities that render it capable of satisfying the ever increasing micro and small satellites that need to be launched. Firstly, TiSPACE is able to provide customers with very competitive offers compared to other launch service providers. These attractive offers are a consequence of cost-effective designs that leads to easily streamlined manufacturing processes and ascertains the mass-production quality and efficiency. Secondly, TiSPACE is able to provide commercial satellite operators with dedicated launch services which allow for on-demand satellite launches that meet the orbit deployment and scheduling requirements. TiSPACE is aiming to fully prepare a launch within 3 months. This is made possible by TiSPACE’s innovative mass production system, combined with the Hapith V’s rapid turnaround time.

The vehicle name Hapith means “flying mouse” in the native tongue of one of Taiwan’s aborigine tribes in the Hsinchu area near the company. The Hapith V was designed to efficiently transport micro and small satellites to both Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO). It can transport up to a maximum of 390 kg (858 lbs) to LEO and 350 kg (770 lbs) to SSO for altitudes up to 700 km. The propulsion system of Hapith V has shown to deliver class-I rocket engine performance that enables orbital launches with its three-stage design. And, the foreseeable mass-production capacity of the vehicle allows for frequent launches to fulfill the market demands.

The Hapith V launch vehicle is a three-stage design manufactured by TiSPACE Inc. The vehicle structure is primarily made of high-strength carbon composite material that allows the rocket to withstand all kinds of impacts during launch. The Hapith V is a hybrid rocket system, meaning that it utilizes both solid and liquid propellants, with chemically stable non-explosive safety features and system simplicity to provide cost-effective rocket propulsion as shown in the following illustrations and tables. There are many benefits of hybrid rockets, such as more efficient fuel consumption than solid rockets, and lower system volume than liquid rockets.

The first stage of propulsion includes a cluster of five Lelien 1C hybrid rocket engines with liquid-injection thrust vector control (LITVC) that can produce up to 637 kN (143,000 lbf) of thrust. The Hapith V’s second stage consists of four Lelien 1B hybrid rocket engines with gimbaled thrust vector control (TVC). These four rocket engines produce a combined 78.4 kN (17,600 lbf) of thrust. The upper stage has a single Lelien 1A hybrid rocket engine with gimbaled thrust vector control. It produces 9.8 kN of thrust (2200 lbf). The roll control of the upper stage is managed by an N2 cold gas reaction control system (RCS).

Construction of TiSPACE’s launch site in the Namten area was completed in November 2019. The site is a 6 hour drive from Taoyuan international airport. The launch site spans 400 meters squared and includes facilities such as a launch pad, launch support rail, an oxidizer filling facility, vehicle/payload assembly building, launch command center, and tracking/ communication antenna. The site also includes a lightning protection system, which is a 30 meter high stainless steel lightning rod topped with copper wire.