Groundbreaking X-ray facility to ensure quality in green rocket engines

Rocket manufacturer Orbex, which operates its design and production facilities in Hvidovre, has secured an investment of DKK 23.7 million from Innovation Fund Denmark.

The funding will support the establishment of a Green Propulsion Excellence Centre at Orbex’s site in the Copenhagen suburb, where the company will design, manufacture, and test green propulsion systems for its Prime rocket, which is intended to launch satellites into Earth orbit.

CO₂ emissions reduced significantly

The Orbex Prime rocket launches from Sutherland Spaceport in northern Scotland and operates on green energy in the form of biofuel. This makes it possible to reduce CO₂ emissions by 96 % compared with comparable launch systems powered by fossil fuels.

The Prime rocket is also reusable and designed not to leave debris in Earth orbit.

World-class quality assurance

The establishment and operation of the Green Propulsion Excellence Centre is being carried out in collaboration with Force Technology, with a total project budget of DKK 45.7 million.

Force Technology has been selected as the development partner responsible for designing and building a high-energy CT X-ray system that will help ensure the quality of the 3D-printed rocket engines before launch. The project builds directly on 6 years of development work supported by the European Space Agency (ESA).

Bringing X-ray technology out of the laboratory

“Innovation Fund Denmark has placed its trust in us through this investment, enabling us to move the X-ray technology out of the laboratory and establish a full-scale demonstration facility at Orbex in Hvidovre. ESA has expressed great enthusiasm that a state-of-the-art facility will now be established in Denmark and expects the European space industry to follow the project with considerable interest,” says Thomas Aaboe Jensen, Programme Manager, Space, at Force Technology.

The Green Propulsion Excellence Centre project will run until May 2026.