Summary: |
The VIRIATO project will be a fundamental step towards establishing an essentially native capability to perform launches to space. The interest in developing this capability comes mainly from two factors: the large growth in several space-related industries that has been both verified in the last decade and projected for the next, and the first steps already taken to establish a launch facility in Azores. In this context, the VIRIATO project aims to develop and demonstrate a national suborbital vehicle which, aside from its potential inherent usefulness, will also serve as a platform for national development of technologies applicable to orbital launchers and, eventually, of a Portuguese microlauncher. |