Equatorial Space Systems Pte Ltd

Market position

Equatorial Space Systems is listed among active private spaceflight companies and classified as a launch service provider in the Asia-Pacific Aviation and Space Directory. It has been cited by Singapore's Prime Minister's Office as an example of deep tech investment in Singaporean startups and has been covered by regional and international outlets including Channel NewsAsia, Nikkei Asian Review and South China Morning Post.

The company's stated differentiators are hybrid propulsion that is entirely free of pyrotechnics and explosives, its proprietary HRF-1 fuel, lower greenhouse gas emissions and cost compared with kerosene/liquid oxygen systems, inert shipping and handling for operational flexibility, and launch from near-equatorial sites allowing direct insertion into a customer's chosen inclination.

Technology

The company's core technology is a hybrid rocket engine burning high-test peroxide (HTP) with HRF-1 (High Regression Fuel 1), a proprietary solid fuel formulation. The systems are described as 100% pyrotechnics- and explosives-free with zero TNT explosive equivalence, shipping fully inert, and as reducing greenhouse gas emissions by up to 60% and cost by up to 80% relative to kerolox, while halving component counts and being potentially reusable. Motor development milestones include the LAD hybrid rocket motor (7-second test fire, October 2019), the HRF1-AL sub-scale motor (6-second test fire, March 2022), and planned H700 and H1800 motors, the latter rated at 2 MN thrust; the H700 is to use an eRAVEN delivery pump to raise oxidiser supply pressure. Volans is also planned to use a restartable hybrid third stage for accurate orbital insertion and multi-payload deployment, and a rotating-blade sea recovery method.

Go-to-market

Operators of small satellites and orbital payloads of up to several hundred kilograms seeking specific inclinations from near-equatorial launch sites, and suborbital/sounding rocket users needing microgravity access or small payload flights; the fuel technology is also described as having military applications.

Geography

Headquartered in Singapore, with a listed address at 110 Lorong 23 Geylang and a location given as Tuas, Singapore; the company states it maintains a presence in Singapore, Australia and the United States, including an American C corporation. Its 2020 demonstrator flight took place at the Felcra palm oil estate in Perak, Malaysia, and it has participated in accelerator programmes in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California.

History

Equatorial Space Industries was founded in October 2017 in Singapore by Simon Gwozdz and Praveen Ganapathi Perumal, securing incubation space at The Hangar by NUS Enterprise in December 2017. It won the Mohammad Bin Rashid Innovation Cup in Dubai in October 2018 and graduated from The Hangar programme in 2019. James Anderson joined as CTO in August 2019, and the first hybrid engine static test firing with HRF-1AL fuel followed in October 2019. The company reformed and rebranded as Equatorial Space Systems in April 2020 and conducted what it describes as the first commercial non-solid rocket launch in Southeast Asia in December 2020. It qualified for the Q Station Accelerator in New Mexico in October 2021 and the Techstars accelerator in Los Angeles in January 2022, and an American C corporation was incorporated to support its growth.

Risks & controversies

Maiden flights for both Dorado and Volans were previously targeted for 2024, and no further public updates on Dorado's status have been provided; the Wikipedia entry on the company is flagged as relying excessively on primary sources.