[6] As of September 2024, the program has 63 volunteers who elect a chairman and board members at their annual general assemblies.

Copenhagen Suborbitals was founded in 2008 by Kristian von Bengtson and Peter Madsen as a non-profit, crowd-funded project that discussed most of their operations on blogs[7][8] and lectures.

[9] On 23 February 2014, the board of Copenhagen Suborbitals announced that Kristian von Bengtson had left the group, after falling out with Madsen.

[11] As of late September 2024, two pressure hardened 950mm steel tanks have been constructed and the development of the BPM-25 engine class is well underway.

[14] The Nexø class was primarily intended to serve as a technology demonstrator ahead of the development of Spica.

[21] In fall of 2012 a concept engine using white fuming nitric acid and furfuryl alcohol was tried using a static test setup.

[22] In 2012 a decision was made to switch to bi-propellant, liquid-fueled engines running on liquid oxygen and ethanol.

The group planned to repeat the test with higher thrust levels, until the TM-65 class in 2014 was abandoned in favour of the BPM-100 engine concept.

It was planned to carry a 1:3 scale, 80 kg space capsule mock-up called the TDS-80 into the stratosphere above the Kárman Line.

The Recruits Initiative, launched in 2021, was designed to attract and educate talented young individuals in the fields of rocket science and technology.

The initiative also aimed at enhancing Danish expertise within the space and defense industries by fostering the development of skilled professionals.

The rocket measures 5 meters in length from nose to engine, with a total weight, including fuel, of approximately 165 kg.

The BPM5 engine has been refined to the maximum during the rocket’s development, and through optimizing the design, it has achieved an impressive performance of 10 kN.

[34] The micro space craft (MSC), named Tycho Brahe after the Danish astronomer, has a steel pressure hull with room for one passenger.

[25] The occupant would fly in a half-standing, half-sitting position in a specially designed seat and would be wearing anti-G trousers to avoid blackout.

[37] A new aluminum MSC called MAX-1 named after Maxime Faget was under development but has been abandoned, according to the group, due to the physiological problems associated with rapid acceleration of a human in standing position.

The launch did not provide enough height for the parachute to deploy and the capsule was partly damaged on impact with the sea.

The capsule is 2 m in diameter, allowing for an astronaut to be in a horizontal position relative to the acceleration during launch and landing.

They preferred another area, giving formal and written permission to launch from the military firing range ESD138/ESD139,[43] located at 55°02′57″N 15°36′11″E / 55.04917°N 15.60306°E / 55.04917; 15.60306 in the Baltic Sea.

Copenhagen Suborbitals then had to build a floating mobile launcher platform (MLP) called Sputnik, named after the first artificial satellite to be put into orbit.

Their launch campaigns includes the following ships:[citation needed] The first full-scale test-launch aimed at 30 km altitude was planned to be conducted off the coast of Bornholm between 30 August and 13 September 2010.

[46] The vehicle carried a crash test dummy "Rescue Randy"[47] instead of a human pilot, with crewed flight not planned for some years.

The success criteria were the completion of the sea voyage and a countdown with launch, with recovery planned as a bonus.

The design famously included a consumer hair dryer[51] for defrosting the LOX-valve; in effect it was not the blow-dryer but its power supply that failed.

[53] Having done updates on the rocket, and the valve, and with MLP-Sputnik under her own power, and a support vessel, the group sailed again for Spaceport Nexø on May 28 at 4:50 a.m.

The second launch attempt was more successful and the maiden flight took place 3 June 2011,[19] at 16:32 local time (CEST) (14:32 GMT).

[68] SAPPHIRE-1, a modification of the HATV, was a 4.5 m rocket whose main purpose was to test the active guidance system developed by Copenhagen Suborbitals.