Perfect debut for Saab Space’s new sounding rocket guidance system
Saab Space’s fourth generation S19L Guidance & Control System performed flawlessly in its first two suborbital flights within a period of four days at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, USA
“Seeing the rockets fly into the New Mexico morning sky was a wonderful reward after a long period of development work”, says Lars Ljunge, project manager at Saab Space. The S19L system has been developed for NASA under their NSROC contract. Two Saab Space engineers provided support for the two launches, which took place on August 21st and 25th. The launch support marked the end of a year-long development and test undertaking, in which four first generation guidance systems have been upgraded with fourth generation technology. The two sounding rockets reached their planned maximum altitude (apogee) at 380 km, and all on-board research experiments were successfully carried out. The S19L systems perfectly controlled both rockets into landings in the designated impact area. Both systems were in good shape after their flights, and will be refurbished by Saab Space for use in future flights. Saab Space is the world leader in sounding rocket trajectory guidance, and has so far provided NASA with guidance & control systems for 166 flights. Saab Space is an international, independent supplier of space equipment. The company’s main products are computers, microwave electronics and antennas for spacecraft and adapters and separation systems for launchers. The company has its headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, a division located in Linköping, Sweden, and subsidiaries in Austria (Austrian Aerospace) and in the USA. Saab Space has approximately 530 employees.
