The propulsion system was launched into space aboard a rocket from the firm SpaceX at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
On 16 July 1969, the US Apollo 11 spacecraft set off on a mission to land the first humans on the moon.
Exactly 49 years later, Hypernova Space Technologies – founded by South Africans in a rather serendipitous occurrence – registered as a space hardware company in Cape Town to develop systems that operate in Very Low Earth Orbits (VLEO).
On Tuesday and on board a satellite from Bulgarian company Endurosat, Hypernova launched its first hardware into space, known as a propulsion system, that was assembled in South Africa by South Africans to compete with international space companies in making this intricate technology.
In general terms, propulsion systems are used to keep a satellite in orbit and, without the technology, a satellite could decay and burn in the earth’s atmosphere.
A propulsion system helps keep the satellite alive for longer.
In the case of Hypernova’s hardware, it is used to manoeuvre the satellite when it is in orbit, helping it to avoid debris in space, as explained by company chief executive Gareth Halstead.
“What is very special about our propulsion system – it is called a ‘vacuum arc thruster’ – is that it uses a solid conducting metal as a fuel source and this is different to traditional systems, which often use gases like xenon and krypton,” Halstead told the Mail & Guardian.
“Those gases are very expensive and very rare, coming from places in the world that are not easy to access or get supplies from. With our system, we hope that if we can mature it, it will become a much cheaper and more robust way of propulsion for satellites.”
Halstead added that although its hardware was assembled locally, the system was a combination of components sourced from the global supply chain, adding that most of the testing was also done in South Africa.
The propulsion system, which was on the Bulgarian satellite, was launched into space aboard a rocket from the firm SpaceX – the company founded by South Africa-born Elon Musk – at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
It was a mission known as a rideshare, which allows small and start-up companies, such as Hypernova, to share the costs of sending payloads, or space cargo, into orbit in a commercially viable manner.
According to information from SpaceX, the costs of rideshares start from “as low as $275 000” – or nearly R4.7 million as of Tuesday – which Halstead said was the reason Hypernova decided to partner with Endurosat’s satellite in order to share the costs of a space mission.
“It wouldn’t have been commercially feasible for us to have done what we did [this week] if we weren’t sharing the costs with all the other payloads that were on that satellite.”
Hypernova’s system does not interact with any of the other payloads that were aboard the satellite, but had its own set of intended outcomes.
“Over the coming months, we will be doing some manoeuvres with our propulsion system to ensure that what we calculated theoretically and during testing in the lab is the same in space – the real world application of it.
“Traditionally, you would think of a weather satellite that will monitor weather patterns. In our case, it is testing a prototype,” he said.
“The actual conceptualisation of this piece of hardware that went into space began in 2020. From conceptualisation to shipping, was somewhere around 18 months, which is extremely quick for space hardware.
“It is not easy.”
Halstead called South Africa’s space industry a “fledgling” one, adding that local firms, located mainly in the Western Cape, were important players in the international market.
“I would say that the companies in South Africa punch far above their weight in terms of the hardware that they are bringing up into space. That was really something that surprised me.”
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