science

Swiss Space Systems

Swiss Space Systems is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Swiss Space Systems rather than just read about it. In short: Swiss Space Systems (S3) was a company that planned to provide orbital launches of small satellites and crewed sub-orbital spaceflights. The company was based in Payerne in western Switzerland, near Payerne Air Base, where it planned to build a spaceport in 2015.

Key takeaways

Swiss Space Systems belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Swiss Space Systems to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Swiss Space Systems from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Swiss Space Systems (S3) was a company that planned to provide orbital launches of small satellites and crewed sub-orbital spaceflights. The company was based in Payerne in western Switzerland, near Payerne Air Base, where it planned to build a spaceport in 2015. Suborbital spaceplanes were to be launched from an Airbus A300, giving the spacecraft more initial speed and altitude than if it were launched from the ground. The spacecraft, in turn, would release a disposable third stage. As of March 2013, the company planned to charge CHF 10 million (US$10.5 million) per launch, using uncrewed suborbital spaceplanes that could carry satellites weighing up to 250 kilograms (550 lb). Costs were expected to be reduced by the reusable nature of the spaceplane and launch facilities, and by lower fuel consumption than conventional systems. In 2013, S3 also hoped to develop a crewed version of its suborbital spaceplane to provide supersonic intercontinental flights to paying customers. According to CEO Pascal Jaussi: "Far from wishing to launch into the space tourism market, we want rather to establish a new mode of air travel based on our satellite launch model that will allow spaceports on different continents to be reached in an hour." As of March 2013, project partners included the European Space Agency, Dassault Aviation and the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics. According to Swiss public broadcasting, Swiss Space Systems became heavily indebted. In 2016, Swiss Space Systems asked to delay bankruptcy procedures as new funds from Singapore bank Axios Credit were expected. However, news tabloid Blick reported that Singapore authorities declared that Axios is not a licensed bank. On 14 December 2016, Swiss Space Systems was declared bankrupt in the civil court of Broye and North Vaud.

History S3 was founded in 2012 by Pascal Jaussi, a pilot and engineer, and joined by astronaut Claude Nicollier. The inauguration was held on 13 March 2013 at Payerne Airport. Initial plans called for the company to open its first spaceport by 2015 and begin test launches by 2015 (Airbus) and 2017 (shuttle). More spaceports were planned for Malaysia, Morocco and North America.

S3 Suborbital spaceplane 2013 plans called for S3 to develop a suborbital spaceplane named SOAR that would launch a microsat launch vehicle capable of putting a payload of up to 250 kilograms (550 lb) into low Earth orbit. As of October 2013, "S3 hopes to achieve horizontal launch with its small satellite deployment system by 2018". In July 2014, S3 announced a partnership with North Bay, Ontario, Canada and Canadore College to start drop-test flights of a scale version of the SOAR spaceplane at Jack Garland Airport (CYYB). In addition to crewed sub-orbital spaceflights, SOAR would also enable high-speed commercial flights (over Mach 3), allowing, for instance, passengers to reach Sydney from Geneva in only a few hours.

Future launch projections The first launch was scheduled for 2018, with CleanSpace One as payload.

S3 Spaceport In October 2013, Swiss Space Systems signed a memorandum of understanding with Spaceport Colorado in the US to allow the spaceport to be a Swiss Space Systems' potential future North American launch site. In March 2014, a subsidiary was opened at the Kennedy Space Center to allow Swiss Space Systems to use the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) for its operations. Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain) was to be the first European operations center as S3 planned to launch satellites from there in 2018.

S3 Zero G

S3 ZeroG was a part of Swiss Space Systems Holding SA, which offered flights in reduced gravity aircraft, a modified Airbus A300. Each flight included 15 parabolas during which the aircraft dives at a 45° angle from 10,400 to 7,300 m (34,000 to 24,000 ft), giving 20–25 seconds of microgravity on board. S3 ZeroG aircraft were scheduled to travel to different countries around the world, starting in Switzerland during the second half of 2015. At the end of 2016, the company announced the first parabolic flights in January 2017; however, according to astronaut Claude Nicollier, President of the Committee of Experts of Swiss Space Systems, "It is absolutely impossible, it needs an official authorization and it will take months, if not years".

CEO attacked Swiss newspapers reported the company to be heavily indebted. In 2015 and 2016, bailiffs collected between 3 and 4 million Swiss francs. The company's creditworthiness was deemed low. On August 26, 2016, Pascal Jaussi was abducted by unknown assailants, beaten, showered with a flammable liquid, and badly burned. In January 2017, it was reported that Jaussi might have staged the attack to save his bankrupt company.

See also Air launch to orbit Comparison of orbital launchers families Comparison of orbital launch systems Pegasus (rocket), a similar concept.

References

External links Official website (Archived)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Swiss Space Systems

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Swiss Space Systems claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Swiss Space Systems before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Swiss Space Systems ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Swiss Space Systems

In research: Swiss Space Systems appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Swiss Space Systems in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Swiss Space Systems is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Aerospace companies of Switzerland, Commercial spaceflight, Human spaceflight programs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Swiss Space Systems outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Swiss Space Systems in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Swiss Space Systems means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Swiss Space Systems out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Swiss Space Systems in simple terms?

Why does Swiss Space Systems matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Swiss Space Systems?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Swiss Space Systems.