January 7, 2021 | 11:37 am Font Size
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Founded in 2019, Orbital Exploration Technologies, Inc. (OrbitX), the country’s first commercial space venture, aims to be a major provider of affordable, green, and sustainable space access to developing countries. Image via OrbitX
By Patricia B. Mirasol
Orbital Exploration Technologies, Inc. (OrbitX), the country’s first commercial space venture, is targeting 2023–2024 for its first launch. Its rocket, the Haribon SLS-1, will be propelled by two of the company’s other innovations: the Tamaraw Rocket Engine and RP-2 fuel, a renewable rocket fuel derived from plastics.
Haribon SLS-1 is in Technology Readiness Level 4, or the level in which components are validated in a laboratory environment, and can carry approximately 200 kilograms in low earth orbit (an orbit with altitude ranging from 200–300 kilometers to 1,600 kilometers).