Latest news with #HyPrSpace
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Science
- Daily Mail
France names space rocket Orbital BAGUETTE One... can you spot the clever nod to Star Wars?
France has officially entered the space race with a rocket named Orbital Baguette One - and the name quietly nods to Star Wars. The country known for wine, cheese and existential cinema is now hoping to take over the cosmos with a crusty carb-themed spacecraft. The name is not just riffing on France's iconic bread - its OB-1 abbreviation also pays a playful tribute to Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. While rockets steeped in fantasy, such as Pegasus, Antares, and Atlas V, have dominated the space race, the French have decided to take a more boulangerie chic approach when choosing a name. Backed by President Emmanuel Macron and developed by a start-up called HyPrSpace, Baguette One is a small, reusable suborbital launcher that promises cheap and eco-friendly satellite transport. A test flight is scheduled from a French military base, with a bigger version, Orbital Baguette One, to follow. Co-founder Sylvain Bataillard said the company wanted to be 'serious but not sinister' when picking the name. The rocket uses what HyPrSpace calls 'revolutioary hybrid propulsion,' powered by a mix of liquid and solid propellants, some made from recycled plastic. There are no turbo-pumps, and the chamber is pressurised with helium, which the company says helps keep costs low. Despite the playful branding, the project has serious backing. France's government has already handed over $41million, with another $470million up for grabs if initial launches succeed. The defense ministry is giving up military bases in southwest France and Provence for testing, making this the first rocket launch from mainland France. According to The Times, TV presenters on TF1 had a hard time trying to keep a straight face when reporting on the project this week, especially after showing an AI image of a baguette on a launchpad. But with global demand for satellite launches booming, no one is laughing at the potential. The Novaspace consultancy predicts more than 26,000 satellites will be launched by 2032. HyPrSpace wants to corner a slice of that market with its microlauncher, which it describes as a satellite 'taxi' offering flexible lift-off dates at half the usual cost. Most small rockets charge $47,000 per kilogram. Baguette One aims to do it for around $23,000. While SpaceX continues to dominate and Europe lags behind, France is hoping its crusty challenger will rise to the occasion. OB-1 may sound like a bakery joke, but Macron's government is betting it could be the future of French space travel.
Metro
18-07-2025
- Science
- Metro
France's new rocket Baguette One to go where no baker has gone before
If seeing a gigantic baguette flying in space is on your bucket list, do we have news for you. Well, kind of. France will soon have a new player in the space race – a rocket called Baguette One. Humankind reaching the heavens was once unthinkable, with the rockets that have made it possible named after ancient gods like Apollo or mythical creatures like Pegasus. Then there's the boulangerie name that the Bordeaux-based start-up HyPrSpace has come up with for its 10-metre-high pocket rocket. Baguette One is intended to be a trial run for the company's larger rocket, the Orbital Baguette One (or OB-1, pronounced 'Obiwan', a nod to the Star Wars Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi). HyPrSpace CEO, Sylvain Bataillard, said she wanted to be 'serious but not sinister' when it came to picking a name. But the name wasn't quite serious enough for the presenters at TFI, France's main broadcaster, when they covered the Baguette One yesterday. When journalist Adrien Portron began giving a rundown on the rocket to the panel, even he struggled to keep a straight face when they were shown an AI-generated image of a baguette on a launchpad. Both baguette rockets are micro-launchers – delivery vans for small, 300kg satellites that drift just above the Earth's atmosphere. 'To understand, we can compare heavy-lift launchers to micro-launchers,' Bataillard told CNews. 'A micro-launcher is like a 'taxi' with a high fare currently between $40,000 and $50,000 per kilo to take it into space. A large launcher is like a bus with fares less than $10,000 per kilo. 'But with our rocket, we could offer a 'taxi' for around €20,000/kg.' These cosmic cabs will rely on a cheap, eco-friendly engine (at least, in the multi-million world of spacecraft propulsion systems), Bataillard said. Rather than using rocket fuel, 'space bakers' designed hybrid boosters that use a mixture of solid and liquid propellants, such as recycled plastic. Neither of the baguettes will use a turbopump, a costly piece of equipment which pushes high-pressure fluid into the engine's combustion chamber. Baguette One will be launched from one of three military bases next year -Biscarrosse, Saint-Médard-en-Jalles or Île du Levant – making it the first rocket launch in metropolitan France. HyPrSpace's Baguette One isn't a half-baked idea, though. Backed by President Emmanuel Macron, the firm received €35million (about £30million) in subsidies last year. This is part of the French government's France 2030, a fund that invests in innovative technologies. French defence officials have expressed an interest in HyPrSpace's propulsion technology as a novel way to chuck satellites into space. More than 26,000 satellites will be launched by 2032, amounting to eight satellites a day, consultancy firm Novaspace estimates. Elon Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, owns around two-thirds of the sofa-sized orbiters whizzing above your head right now, according to the satellite tracker CelesTrak. Yet studies have shown that all this hardware above our heads means more harmful metals lingering in the atmosphere, while some space officials worry that the final frontier is becoming a celestial rubbing tip. Bataillard, however, remains optimistic. 'Space today is like the internet in the 1990s,' she added. 'We know that a lot of things are going to happen.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Felix Baumgartner's chilling last Instagram post moments before he died mid-air MORE: A new world may have been discovered beyond Neptune MORE: Asteroid size of 10-storey building to fly past Earth at 13,900mph today
Daily Mail
18-07-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
France names space rocket Orbital BAGUETTE One (and can you spot the clever nod to Star Wars?)
France has officially entered the space race with a rocket named Orbital Baguette One. The country known for wine, cheese and existential cinema is now hoping to take over the cosmos with a crusty carb-themed spacecraft. The name is not just a nod to one of France's most iconic exports, but also a wink to Star Wars, with the OB-1 abbreviation paying a playful tribute to Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. While rockets steeped in fantasy, such as Pegasus, Antares, and Atlas V, have dominated the space race, the French have decided to take a more boulangerie chic approach when choosing a name. Backed by President Emmanuel Macron and developed by a start-up called HyPrSpace, founded in 2019, Baguette One is a small, reusable suborbital launcher that promises cheap and eco-friendly satellite transport. A test flight is scheduled from a French military base, with a bigger version, Orbital Baguette One, to follow. Co-founder Sylvain Bataillard said the company wanted to be 'serious but not sinister' when picking the name. The rocket uses what HyPrSpace calls 'revolutionary hybrid propulsion,' powered by a mix of liquid and solid propellants, some made from recycled plastic. There are no turbo-pumps, and the chamber is pressurised with helium, which the company says helps keep costs low. Despite the playful branding, the project has serious backing. France's government has already handed over €35 million, with another €400 million up for grabs if initial launches succeed. The defence ministry is giving up military bases in southwest France and Provence for testing, making this the first rocket launch from mainland France. According to The Times, TV presenters on TF1 had a hard time trying to keep a straight face when reporting on the project this week, especially after showing an AI image of a baguette on a launchpad. But with global demand for satellite launches booming, no one is laughing at the potential. The Novaspace consultancy predicts more than 26,000 satellites will be launched by 2032. HyPrSpace wants to corner a slice of that market with its microlauncher, which it describes as a satellite 'taxi' offering flexible lift-off dates at half the usual cost. Most small rockets charge €40,000 per kilogram. Baguette One aims to do it for around €20,000. While SpaceX continues to dominate and Europe lags behind, France is hoping its crusty challenger will rise to the occasion. OB-1 may sound like a bakery joke, but Macron's government is betting it could be the future of French space travel.
