Chief executive Oren Smith-Carpenter co-founded Aurora with fellow engineer and former Orbex colleague Rowland Fraser , the firm’s chief technical officer
At present the growing number of launch vehicle manufacturers are investing vast sums, as well as time and effort, in creating their own avionics – something Aurora’s co-founders hope to change with the creation of the first “off the shelf” systems. “Each and every firm is trying to grapple with complex and costly avionics to allow them to launch and control their vehicles, and to ultimately place satellites into specific orbits. We want to revolutionise this hugely wasteful process – and enable launch vehicle manufacturers to launch rockets promptly and inexpensively using our modular and reliable systems.”
“Oren and I have first-hand experience of the technical challenges to building avionics. Our vision, of a universal modular system, will result in a step-change in development time, cost and reliability. We will give manufacturers access to the best technology to power the next generation of space vehicles.”
Gillian MacAulay, director of the Gabriel Investment Syndicate, said: “We are delighted to have led the investment deal into this exciting young company.”We believe that this is a very dynamic market sector to be involved in, and with the advent of a UK Space Port, we feel there is tremendous growth in this area, and we are pleased to be working closely with such a dynamic team who have a wealth of experience and expertise to bring to the table.