OTRAG

Flight history

The engines were tested extensively on ground rigs, on both German and African test sites. Experiments were run with varying fuel and oxidiser formulations, as the general design was quite robust.

Small, 4-unit vehicles were built and tested several sites: Shaba North in modern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Seba Oasis, Libya. The rockets used were 6 and 12 meters long, and obtained heights of 20 to 50 kilometres. The basic CRPU concept was shown to be workable, though some rockets experienced guidance or component failures. The last launch of an OTRAG rocket took place on September 19, 1983, at Esrange. Following this launch, the OTRAG rocket was to be used in high altitude research.

Political pressure then shut down the project, as discussed in the OTRAG article.

After the company had left Libya in 1987, some remaining equipment was confiscated by the government. However, enough parts and knowledge were missing to prevent Libya from continuing the project.

Corporate history

OTRAG was founded on October 17, 1974 by German aerospace engineer Lutz Kayser. OTRAG's goal was to develop, produce, and operate a low-cost satellite launch vehicle. It was the first private company to attempt to launch a private spacecraft. The OTRAG rocket was intended to be an inexpensive alternative to the European rocket Ariane and the NASA Space Shuttle. Kayser and a private consortium of six hundred European investors financed the development and production of the OTRAG satellite launch vehicle. Dr. Kurt H. Debus served as Chairman of the Board of OTRAG (1974–1980) after his retirement as director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, and Dr. Wernher von Braun served as scientific adviser to Kayser.

In the face of doubts by Debus and von Braun, Kayser chose in 1975 to set up testing and launch facilities in Shaba, Zaire (now Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo). Debus and von Braun were concerned about the possibility of Zairian acquisition of missile technology from the facilities. Kayser decided to proceed despite their opposition.

Otrag's first test was on May 17, 1977, with the second successful launch on May 20, 1978. The third test, 16 days later, failed on June 5, 1978, with Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko watching the launch.

Political pressure to halt the company's operations mounted quickly. France and the Soviet Union were historically opposed to German long-distance rocket development and pressured the Zairian government into closing down the development facility in 1979. Immediately afterwards, Presidents Giscard d'Estaing of France and Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union convinced the West German government to cancel the OTRAG project and close down its German operations. In 1980, OTRAG moved its production and testing facilities to a desert site in Libya. A series of successful tests was conducted at this site beginning in 1981.

Controversies and future outlook

Only a few political controversies are known concerning OTRAG, which involve the concerns of neighbors in Zaire and Libya about the dual use potential of rockets. A full orbital launch vehicle was never assembled. Modules were flight tested in Zaire and Libya. 6,000 static rocket engine tests and 16 single-stage qualification tests were made to prove the concept as feasible.

Hans Dietrich Genscher, the then-minister of German foreign affairs, is said to have finally stopped the project under pressure from France and the Soviet Union, and West Germany joined the co-financed "European rocket" Ariane project, which made the OTRAG project unnecessary and eliminated political entanglements of a still divided Germany in the early 1980s.

Around 2009, Lutz Kayser had been advising Interorbital Systems, resulting in a similar modular rocket design for their Neptune series.