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Created: 2023-09-23
Updated: 2024-07-09
Company - Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA)
Product/Service - ARGO
- Classification
- Cargo Transportation & Landers
- Category
- Microgravity Flight Service (Reusable Satellite)
Transport Service (Re-Entry)
Microgravity Flight Service (LEO)
Transport Service (Earth-LEO)
- Status
- Concept, Development
- First launch
- 2028
- Partners
- ATMOS Space Cargo, Sener, OHB, MT Aerospace
- Fenix engine
- Stainless steel structures
- Autonomous Guidance and Control for Rendezvous
- Advanced Docking Mechanism
- Inflatable atmospheric decelerator (re-entry module).
The Ultimate Guide to Argo: Our Cost-Effective Cargo Capsule, 2024-03-21
- Optimized for flexibility and reliability, Argo offers an end-to-end service at a low price point of just €150M.
- Led by RFA, the bidding consortium combines our expertise with that from Space Cargo Unlimited, along with partners like ATMOS Space Cargo to offer a fully reusable solution for the European Space Agency and commercial clients.
- Argo is developed for use on any launcher.
- Plan to implement Argo’s first demo mission in 2028.
- Argo will be 3.7 m in diameter and 7.7 m long (without its fairing). It will have a 1:1 ratio between its up and down cargo mass – one of its most unique features.
- Argo has a dry mass of 5,200 kg without cargo, a total internal pressurized volume of 27.9 cubic meters and a pressurized cargo volume of 15.5 cubic meters. It can carry up to 4,000 kg of cargo to and from orbit.
- Two RFA Fenix engines will power Argo in orbit, with an additional 24x 100 N Thrusters for the Reaction Control System (RCS). The Fenix engines use bi-propellant and will already have flight heritage from RFA ONE. Argo has an estimated propellant mass of 3,082 kg.
- Absolutely! Argo can be used for in-orbit experiments with or without docking to the ISS or any other space station. Specifically, Argo can induce spin to generate up to Martian gravity along the cylindrical hull of the pressure vessel.