Latitude (formerly Venture Orbital Systems) is a French rocket manufacturing company developing the Zephyr rocket. Its first flight is scheduled for the year 2026.

Zephyr

The first variant of the Zephyr rocket will be capable of delivering 100 kg to

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

(LEO). A second variant, expected in 2028, will carry up to 200 kg to LEO. The performance increase will primarily be achieved by engine upgrades.

Timeline

The company was founded in 2020 and is located in

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

. It inaugurated its micro-launcher factory in Reims on 19 October 2021. In June 2022 it had closed a €10 million Series A funding. In January 2024, the company has raised $30 million for producing its rockets. In June 2024, Latitude has been awarded €15 million by the French government. In 2025, the company has committed €8 million to developing its section of a new commercial launch facility at the

Guiana Space Centre The Guiana Space Centre (; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas region of France in South America. Kourou is located approxim ...

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

and signed a deal to expand into a larger factory.

References

External links

Official website
French companies established in 2020 Companies based in Reims Aerospace companies of France Private spaceflight companies Technology companies established in 2020 {{France-company-stub