Capricornio (rocket)

Capricornio

Function	Orbital launch vehicle
Manufacturer	Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA)
Country of origin	Spain
Size
Height	18.25 m
Diameter	1.00 m
Mass	15,035 kg
Stages	3
Capacity
Payload to LEO	140 kg
Launch history
Status	Canceled
Launch sites	El Hierro
First stage - Castor 4B
Engines	1 solid
Thrust	429 kN
Burn time	61 seconds
Fuel	Solid
Second stage - Deneb-F
Engines	1 solid
Thrust	167.9 kN
Burn time	35.6 seconds
Fuel	solid
Third stage - Mizar-B
Engines	1 solid
Thrust	50.29 kN
Burn time	33.8 seconds
Fuel	solid

Capricornio was a Spanish satellite launch vehicle developed by the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA) in the 1990s. It was expected to be a low cost solution to place up to 70 kg payloads into 600 km polar orbits or 60 to 140 kg payloads into low Earth orbit. Part of the technology was related to Argentina's Condor missile program.

Development

• First phase: development of solid motors using the INTA-100 and INTA-300 sounding rockets, launched from the El Arenosillo test range in southern Spain.
• Second phase: use Capricornio second and third stages as the Argos sounding rocket (originally planned for winter 1998-99).
• Third phase: first launch of the full Capricornio rocket, carrying a micro-satellite.

Configuration

Three-stage solid propellant launcher. Overall length of 18.25 m, body diameter of 1.0 m and weighs 15,035 kg at launch.

• Stage 1 contains a Thiokol Castor 4B motor with HTPB solid propellant.
• Stage 2 contains a motor named Deneb-F.
• Stage 3 contains a motor named Mizar-B.

Projected flights

The first flight of Capricornio was scheduled to take place from El Hierro in late 1999 or 2000. It would carry two small satellites: Nanosat 01 (developed by the Polytechnic University of Madrid) and Venus (Polytechnic University of Madrid and other universities in Mexico and Argentina).