Equatorial Space Systems has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India’s Space Development Nexus-SDNx for suborbital launch services using the company’s Dorado rocket.
The MOU is the first foray of Equatorial Space into the Indian market and involves extensive collaboration in providing responsive, suborbital launch operations to academic and research groups in the country. With its standardized payload module, the Dorado vehicle will provide cost-effective and frequent testing opportunities for a variety of users starting 2021.
Space Development Nexus (SDNx) is creating multiple Space Education and Research Centers in Educational Institutions across the globe to create an experiential learning ecosystem for the students in the Field of Aerospace, Aviation, and Automation. These Space Education and Research Centers will engage students in research and development of unique projects like Nano-Satellites, Sounding Rockets, Interplanetary Rover etc. to create skilled and eligible space ready workforce of tomorrow.
The company’s inaugural suborbital launch of the Dorado sounding rocket is slated for the first half of 2021.
Executive Comments
“It’s hard to find another nation as proactive and visionary in space as India and we are excited to enable the wealth of creativity found in India’s education institutions to scale greater heights with responsive launch capability,” said Simon Gwozdz, the Founder and CEO of Equatorial Space.
“Indian Space Sector is rising and with that a giant wave of new opportunities is about to strike the nation. We need an entirely new type of workforce to serve the space industry and there is an immediate need of large number of Space Research and Training Platforms to provide the necessary skills to the young minds of the country,” said Govind Yadav, the Director and Chief Innovation Officer of Space Development Nexus-SDNx.
