Copenhagen Suborbitals Sapphire Mission

This is a documentary of the launch of the “Sapphire” rocket by Copenhagen Suborbitals (CS) from June of this year. The video shows the preparations and the launch itself – from all available camera angles – including footage from the surveillance airplane.
The purpose of the mission was to test active guidance. This is a key element in the CS mission to launch a human into space. The guidance system was designed entirely by CS personnel and used a combination of inertial navigation and jet vanes for control.

The guidance system oriented the vehicle at a point directly above the launch platform Sputnik to minimize downrange distance. It worked well, at burnout the vehicle was only 60 meters off target. Next CS will combine active guidance and a powerful liquid propellant rocket engine. The HEAT 2X rocket will be a two ton, space capable active guided liquid propellant rocket.