TiSPACE, officially Taiwan Innovative Space Inc. ( zh, 台灣晉陞太空股份有限公司), is a space launch company from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

History

TiSPACE was founded in 2016 by a group of investors, scientists, and engineers led by Yen-Sen Chen who had previously worked at the

NSPO Taiwan Space Agency (abbreviated TASA), formerly the National Space Organization (NSPO) from 1991 to 2023, is the national civilian space agency of Taiwan, under the auspices of the National Science and Technology Council. TASA is involved in t ...

and at NASA’s

Marshall Space Flight Center Marshall Space Flight Center (officially the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center; MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville postal address), is the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government's ...

. In 2019 they signed an MOU with

National Central University National Central University (; abbreviated NCU; ) is a public research university based in Taiwan. It was founded in 1902 in Nanjing; initially located in Miaoli after moving to Taiwan, it relocated to Zhongli in 1962 and developed into a com ...

to promote domestic space launch and the space technology sector. They also attended the

International Astronautical Congress The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is an annual meeting of the actors in the discipline of space science. It is hosted by one of the national society members of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), with the support of ...

, a first for a Taiwanese company. TiSPACE scrapped their launch facility in Taiwan due to legal issues. In August 2021 TiSPACE announced plans to launch from the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex in Australia rather than Taiwan. They received the first flight approval permit ever issued by the Australian government.

Facilities

Structural dynamics tests are performed at the

National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE; ) is an organisation in Daan District, Taipei, Da'an District, Taipei, Taiwan. NCREE was established in 1980 by the National Science Council (NSC), and they are working together wit ...

Hot fire test facility

TiSPACE conducts engine tests at its vertical hot fire test facility.

Nantian launch facility

TiSPACE’s launch facility is located in the Nantian are of Taitung county. According to TiSPACE the facility features "launch pad, launch support rail, an oxidizer filling facility, vehicle/payload assembly building, launch command center, and tracking/communication antenna."

Launch vehicles

HAPITH I (Kestrel I)

HAPITH I (known as Kestrel I when operated by ATSpace) is a two stage sub-orbital rocket designed to validate TiSPACE's

hybrid-propellant rocket A hybrid-propellant rocket is a rocket with a rocket motor that uses rocket propellants in two different phases: one solid and the other either gas or liquid. The hybrid rocket concept can be traced back to the early 1930s. Hybrid rockets avoi ...

system. The HAPITH I has 100% domestically sourced components. Hapith is Saisiyat for

flying squirrel Flying squirrels (scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini) are a tribe (biology), tribe of 50 species of squirrels in the family (biology), family Squirrel, Sciuridae. Despite their name, they are not in fact capable of full flight i ...

. The first launch of the HAPITH I was scheduled for December 27, 2019 but was called off after protest from the local indigenous community. With the blessings of the community the launch was rescheduled for February 13 and was to include a Paiwan blessing of the rocket. The February 13 launch was scrubbed due to weather. As of August 2021, the first launch of HAPITH I was scheduled to take place at Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex,

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, in late 2021. On 16 September 2021, 06:39 UTC the Hapith I rocket (flight VS01) launched from Whalers Way Pad 1 on a suborbital test flight. This was the maiden flight of Hapith I and first of three test launches from Pad 1 at Whalers Way. The rocket started to climb off the launch pad, but caught fire and fell over, supposedly due to pipework failure. Fire was Intended apogee of the flight was . As payload the rocket carried an Ionosphere Scintillation Package (ISP) for

for the purpose of

Ionospheric scintillation In astronomy, interplanetary scintillation refers to random fluctuations in the intensity of radio waves of celestial origin, on the timescale of a few seconds. It is analogous to the twinkling one sees looking at stars in the sky at night, but in ...

research. Two more test launches of the vehicle, conducted by ATSpace under the Kestrel I name, are scheduled for late 2022. HAPITH I has two stages; the first stage has 4 motors, and the second stage has a single motor. All motors are similar, having a composite outer shell with

styrene-butadiene Styrene-butadiene or styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) describe families of synthetic rubbers derived from styrene and butadiene (the version developed by Goodyear is called Neolite). These materials have good abrasion resistance and good aging ...

rubber as fuel and

nitrous oxide Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or factitious air, among others, is a chemical compound, an Nitrogen oxide, oxide of nitrogen with the Chemical formula, formula . At room te ...

as oxidizer.

HAPITH V

The HAPITH V is a three stage orbital rocket in development from the HAPITH I with an approximate height of 20 m, a diameter of 2.2 m, and a first stage thrust of 650 kN. The target payload is 390 kg to LEO and 350 kg to SSO. It will be TiSPACE’s first commercial offering. HAPITH V has three stages; the first stage has 5 motors, the second stage has 4 motors, and the third stage has a single motor. All motors are similar, having a composite outer shell with