The Swiss Propulsion Laboratory (SPL), founded in autumn 1998, is running  integrated programs focussing on research and development of space-technology in Switzerland. SPL is located in Langenthal/Switzerland. This town is placed between Zurich and Bern, the capital of Switzerland (see also our facilities-pages).

Basic documents

• Fact Sheet
• Basic dossier 
• Basisdossier (GERMAN)

Involving external facilties and inviting other organizations to participate allows SPL to achieve its objectives. The components will be developped in a joint effort of SPL, interested universities, graduate schools and Switzerlands precision industry. SPL will provide the required co-ordination of all involved parties, for example by extracting and forwarding precisely defined technical problems to educational institutions, thereby enabling them to effectively take part in space-technology oriented "applied science".

X-Bow launcher family
SPL is focussing on the following long term projects, which will be compiled gradually (see also our project pages):

Priority	Project-name	Description
1		Implementation of the required infrastructure; Setup of contacts between SPL, interested universities, graduate schools and industry; Gaining mutual trust and recognition
2		Development and implementation of a single-stage rocket with a lift-off-mass of ~250kg, powered by a LOX/kerosene   engine with ~8 kN thrust, apogee > 100km with a payload of ~25kg, fed by a gas pressurization system.
3		Development and implementation of a suborbital two-stage rocket with a lift-off-mass of ~1'500kg, powered by LOX/kerosene engines on both stages. Fed by a gas pressurization system. The engines will be mounted on a gimballing system capable of slewing  the engine in the pitch and yaw planes. A cold gas thruster system will control the vehicle's roll rate.
4		Development and implementation of a three-stage rocket, capable of bringing small civilian payloads in a low earth-orbit (LEO), lift-off-mass of ~10'000kg, powered by LOX/kerosene engines on all stages, a turbo-pump will feed the propellants. The two upper stages will be fed by a gas pressurization system. The engines will also be mounted on a gimballing system. A cold gas thruster system controls the vehicle's roll rate.

X-Bow II and X-Bow III will be fully reusable. X-Bow comes from "cross-bow", an ancient weapon which is the symbol of swiss quality today.

AUSROC 2.5
SPL is involved in ASRI's AUSROC 2.5 project. SPL is in charge for the propellant pressurization system. AUSROC 2.5 is a 7.2m tall sounding rocket

Project ENTERPRISE
The German TALIS Enterprise GmbH is in the concept stage of two types of rocket-powered aircrafts. They will be able to carry 1 to 5 people on a sub-orbital trip to an altitude of either 30 or 130 km (depending on the aircraft) and bring them safely back down to earth. SPL is responsible for the whole propulsion subsystem. More aboout ENTERPRISE