Germany's low-cost Launch Vehicle "OTRAG"

"Orbital Transport und Raketen AG," which translates to "Orbital Transport and Rockets Inc." in English. OTRAG was a German aerospace company founded by Lutz Kayser in the 1970s. The company aimed to develop low-cost launch vehicles for sending payloads into space.
OTRAG gained attention for its innovative approach to rocket design, focusing on modular construction and the use of multiple small rocket engines. This was intended to reduce costs and increase flexibility. The company conducted some test launches in the 1970s and 1980s in various locations, including Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), where they had agreements to test and launch their rockets.
However, OTRAG faced political and regulatory challenges, and its activities raised concerns about potential military applications. As a result, the project was met with international scrutiny, and it eventually faced obstacles that led to its decline. The company's work was largely put on hold, and the ambitious plans to revolutionize space transportation were never fully realized.
"Space Cargo Transporter" (skfb.ly/oFOAQ) by kunyong_Chen is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (creativecommons.org/licenses/b....

[@Strelnikov403]

This is the real-world equivalent of using a million tiny Oscar-B fuel tanks and Ant engines to reach orbit in KSP.

[@davisdf3064]

Ant engines are too small, i'd say the spark is closer (yet way more efficient than the real OTRAG engines!)

[@wallissimpson5414]

Reminds me of how SpaceX used a lot of Tesla parts off the line for various functions. If it’s vetted for a mass production automobile I guess it’s basically good enough for a rocket!

[@epj0211]

@@wallissimpson5414Is that true? Show some sources.

[@pantheraerospace752]

@@epj0211 they used Tesla batteries for Starship Mark 1 and the suborbital prototypes

[@epj0211]

@@pantheraerospace752 Oh, alright

[@OTRAG1]

cool fact about OTRAG: they used windshield wiper motors to open and close the fuel valves, these were the only moving part on an OTRAG module

[@JimmyBlether]

Oh my god the scraping sound was hilarious

[@ericlotze7724]

Just reached it, was PERFECT

[@TheNavalAviator]

Gotta say that payload delivery was the most ominously presented one I've ever seen.

[@KorianHUN]

I was waiting for a huge OTRAG space station with a thousand tiny modules to appear.

[@MattMcIrvin]

I don't know what's happening but it sounds like James Bond is going to try to put a stop to it.

[@YoungAstronomicalReaserc-zf8zy]

OTRAG was going to launch spy satellites for anyone, so I would not be shocked if the animation shows OTRAG launching the japanese capture and return craft from james bond

[@alecgriffiths790]

What an "OTRAG"-ous concept this rocket was! Awesome animation too!

[@lantastic1]

Fascinating concept. A flying pipe organ.

[@jmwoods190]

Might be time to build a flying scale model of this flying organ- BY strapping a bunch of Roman candles together and point them upside-down! 😈

[@brettteeter3461]

😂

[@Tate525]

😂😂😂 Man those rods could very well act as Tungsten rods from GI Joe. "All of the fun, none of the fallout".

[@transportationfan3156]

I always wondered how the OTRAG would look like off the paper! Thanks for the amazing work

[@davisdf3064]

If you thought that the UR-700 and the UR-900 using the "Universal Module" approach was crazy, then just you wait for 1000 inneficient rocket modules trying to send probably about less than 5 tons to Low Earth Orbit!

[@jmwoods190]

And don't forget the numerous Nova proposals whose 1st 2 stages consisted nothing but SRBs bundled together. Apparently the Saturn IB & Proton weren't meant to be 'Cluster's Last Stand' as Von Braun would've thought! 😂

[@vitalegvitalegov]

Now tell it to Musk, why he builds such an inefficient dozens of engines... just copying Korolyov N-1 design flaw. 😏

[@davisdf3064]

​@@vitalegvitalegov What? Using many engines isn't a problem if you do rigorous testing, something SpaceX constantly does. The N-1 couldn't test it's engines due to them using pyrotechnical valves, wich needed to be refurbished, and they didn't had the money to test all that. OTRAG is inneficient due to the Square Cube law, and the sheer horrible ISP the engines had. Starship is a genuinely feasible and efficient, specially if compared to OTRAG.

[@vitalegvitalegov]

​@@davisdf3064ah yeah, you're my mommy's rocket engineer! 👏

[@infinitespace2520]

@@vitalegvitalegov And you think you know a damn thing about this

[@galadato7425]

This is so KSP

[@apeliver]

I miss Jebediah sitting in his chair on the very top of the rocket.😂

[@fhbcghkbvhk]

exactly

[@davisdf3064]

Except in KSP you make it with Kickbacks (long and thin solid motor)

[@MrFranklitalien]

I made something like that in KSP before I figured out that I have to pitch the rocket as I climb up; this bad boy would get me straight up then boost me from apoapsis to orbit

[@johnwang9914]

I remember in the late 70's and early 80's reading an article in perhaps Popular Science or Popular Mechanics about a company in Europe that was developing rockets which used common pipes intended for pipelines as fuel and oxidizer tanks, auto windshield fluid pumps to pump the fuel and oxidizer together into the engine. Both the fuel and oxidizer were commercially available liquids hence avoiding pressuruzation and cryogenic temperatures. I remember that diesel and kerosene was mentiined as the fuel, I don't remember what was proposed as the oxidizer but there are many obvious options such as hydrogen peroxide. The photographs shown looked like this animation, with four long pipes/tanks on top of offset cylinders that spanned two tanks housing the engines and the drawings showed concentric clusters of these cylinders that would drop off just as this animation shows. I wonder if it's the same program.

[@randycampbell6307]

It was actually a pressure fed design the auto windshield wiper switches simply opened the valves to the combustion chamber :)

[@johnwang9914]

@@randycampbell6307 Well, I just remembered they said they used common components from the automobile industry that dealt with the windshield wipers. The article must've been over forty years ago and I was a very young child at the time though much of what I read in those magazines have actually occurred though not to the extent forecasted by the magazines.

[@randycampbell6307]

@@johnwang9914 And thanks for making me feel old now as I read it in young adulthood :) No problem, I really remember because of a video by "Pressure Fed Astronaut" about both the original OTRAG and an "improved" version he worked on for fun 🤣

[@DMSP]

It's the same program!

[@sander915]

I love the music you picked

[@skrape99]

It wasn't that OTRAG didn't make sense, it was that the approach made too much sense. Also, I liked the slidey-pipe sound effects during staging.

[@vicroc4]

SchwoooOOOP

[@michelvan97]

Note this here is early version of OTRAG launcher, later version had to use smaller diameter tubes and rocket was rectangular cross section...

[@campbellmays9900]

So you’re on KZbin now,eh?

[@michelvan97]

yeah i'm expanding...@@campbellmays9900

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

Smaller?????

[@AHHHHHHHH21]

Rectangles are known to be very aerodynamic

[@modelermark172]

Very nicely done! This concept is similar to a model of a hypothetical launch vehicle made by Monogram Models in 1959 called the "Willy Ley TV Orbiter Three Stage Reconnaissance Rocket." Made to 1/96 scale, this rocket also featured a nested booster system where the second stage was as long as the first, but nested within it to keep the overall height to a minimum. Thanks for sharing this with us!

[@vitalegvitalegov]

Wow! Right now teams in different countries are developing 3D printing technologies to print solid rocket engines, quickly and cheaply, and with highly optimized engine channel. Right for such tiny rockets. Though their primary goal is to launch modern cubesats on demand, but nothing (except for patents) will prevent them to combine them into such a fancy batteries.

[@CausticLemons7]

I really enjoyed the sound on this one too!

[@doggonemess1]

Me, too. Excellent sound effects.

[@PaddyPatrone]

There is a great documentrary about this project. It's called "Fly rocket fly"

[@johnbuchman4854]

There's a hit song somewhere in there...

[@bazoo513]

A bit of a Will E. Coyote solution - strap-on boosters driven to extremes. The crazy thing is that this might even work, if the separation of the outermost cylinder of boosters happens high enough in the atmosphere, so that no back fairing on the capsule is necessary.

[@doltsbane]

Ironic that a matryoshka rocket should be built by Germans rather than Russians.

[@evanthegardener.972]

Great sound design ! (2:03)

[@ajds]

Lovely. The pad workers looked great, and the mirrored rear surface in orbit was beautiful.

[@fakez90]

Your work is incredible. Second to none in my opinion.

[@iAribeth]

Looks like something I would have built in KSP

[@CrazyYog]

I believe this is the most "Kerbal" real world rocket design I've ever seen. I was half expecting to see Jebediah Kerman smiling from a window of the payload module.

[@pressure-fedastronaut6511]

Pardon the delay and pedantry (I'm the OTRAG guy). While this is a very wonderful animation, it is an inaccurate render of OTRAG. I think you conflated a few of the different designs together. The overall vehicle you've done is the hexagonal model Lutz Kayser is holding in that one image of him. However, your engine count for the individual units is from the original Europa 3E design. The final design had two types of unit: single and quad, with one and four tanks plus an equal number of engines. The units themselves had tanks 27cm in diameter and 24m tall. The overall vehicle would be a giant rectangular prism. (The hexagonal configuration was abandoned some time before 1977 when they ended up in Zaire.) For staging, OTRAG hot-staged for simplicity. And the payload fairing was structural to the first stage--and would be attached to the first stage during staging. Only the pointy end would fly off. Apologies again for the pedantry--it is a great animation, though.

[@cpnscarlet]

OMG...I remember having to research these about 15 years ago for an AF customer. Funny how some ideas never die.

[@TheFrenchDark]

that's look like a James Bond opening movie. :p

[@fridaycaliforniaa236]

If I try this thing in KSP, I bet my PC will sue me...

[@nicktruder]

this is the defInition of MOAR BOOSETERS

[@UrbanImposter]

MOAR Boosters!

[@rollertoaster812]

I remember reading about this in a book that was published when this was still being developed. It seemed like a zany idea then. Little did I know I read about essentially asparagus staging, decades before Kerbal Space Program!

[@stainlesssteelfox1]

The pipes must flow? With that background music, I half expected it to dock with a Heighliner.

[@tbjtbj7930]

Yes, very Dune

[@jimcabezola3051]

After it sheds its engine, the craft looks like a huge "potato masher" hand grenade from WWII. Neat!

[@AndrewDasilvaPLT]

Thank you for your work!

[@Gerhard_Schroeder]

I remember die article in the "PM magazine".

[@MichaelEllisYT]

Oh, it's not KSP it's actually You Only Live Twice.

[@Andypos]

I would like a video on the "launch loop" as well as videos on all the other theoretical space transportation systems.

[@therichieboy]

2:28 for he *is* the kwisatz haderach!

[@APW_Manbow]

Extremely Loud Zampoña!

[@jmwoods190]

Saturn IB & Proton: Cluster's Last Stand Saturn V-4X & OTRAG: Cluster's Grand Comeback(that never happened)

[@SVanHutten]

A true pipe dream of a rocket.

[@dogwater4u]

nicely done

[@user-bj7cp6hm3q]

Знаю такой проект, там чуть ли не из канализационных клуб ракеты строить собирались.

[@TinyHouseHomestead]

Ooooooo, I just built a model of their 4 tube rocket! 😱😁😝🤪🤣👍👍🇺🇲

[@LDTV22OfficialChannel]

This animation never fails to excite.

[@davidvaughn7752]

Wonderful!

[@andreyplumer3990]

Love the James Bond theme at the end.

[@ericlotze7724]

The appeal behind this is one could mass manufacture the “modules” and have a VERY scalable, cheap rocket. Not quite “Big Dumb Booster” like the Sea Dragon, but sort of a (Scooby Doo Esque-) Sandwich of Tiny Dumb Boosters.

[@davisdf3064]

The best part is that the Sea Dragon is actually more feasable and efficient than OTRAG, due to the Square Cube law

[@robertgormley7602]

I used to think if I could strap enough model rocket engines together that I could reach space.

[@pseudotasuki]

There's an XKCD "What If" about that. It's… a lot of them.

[@MLMHandicraft]

Full watch like done ji

[@pontuswendt2486]

What was the payload?

[@MimeHTF5]

a heavy satellite. Possibly a Sahirian Spy Satellite

[@davisdf3064]

Some random satellite, or a weight simulator, probably not that big (the original OTRAG big launcher had an estimaded payload of around 10 Tons to Low Earth Orbit)

[@avmduck3932]

How much stress can a stove pipe take?

[@christopherrasmussen8718]

Very interesting

[@D_Rogers]

Looks good! I've heard that some kind of OTRAG was making a comeback! But I'm not sure how 'low-cost' it is in modern terms, that's a lot of materials they are just throwing away there! Even with mass production it throws away a lot more metal than a regular expendable rocket, and the low-cost of those expendable rockets is already questionable. If those modules could parachute and be recovered, then you'd have something..... :)

[@pseudotasuki]

ARCA's latest scam uses a similar concept, except using hot water as the propellant.

[@randycampbell6307]

The 'modules' were essentially modified irrigation pipes so pretty 'cheap' compared to an actual rocket tank system. As noted both ARCA and another company (Interorbital Systems) have both proposed OTRAG like systems, (IOS actually had Lutz as a consultant at one point) but neither seem to be actually going anywhere.

[@jmstudios457]

The latest I can think of is interorbital systems old rocket concept, but that's been replaced with a traditional big dumb boosters design.

[@randycampbell6307]

I suppose you've seen "Pressure Fed Astronaut"s active take no both the original and an "improved" OTRAG design? As the name kind of implies he's kind of a fan of OTRAG :)

[@braderickson9996]

Never knew how it staged, interesting. Could not figure out what it released in space, music was a bit ominous though. I know what the music piece is. Interesting choice.

[@fuzzyhead878]

Quick, someone make this into a KSP mod!

[@maxbrazil3712]

I can only guess at how hot the last stage would be at ignition. That's the biggest design flaw I can see, excessive heat.

[@karlmarx1423]

YESSSSSS ITS HERE

[@Kerballistic]

OTRAG was always a **pipe** dream

[@adampositron6871]

All those skinny straw like fuel tanks would add a great deal more weight to the vehicle than stacking two or three much larger diameter tanks in two or three stages or arranged side by side as is usually done.

[@jamieanderson6786]

Fun to think about but never would have worked in practice, and there was a lot of misrepresentation of the performance of the blow down propulsion system.

[@-K-Depbluhole]

Man this is the true defenition of MOAR BOOSTEERS

[@hawk0485]

Love the villain music

[@millennialmeows]

GEMENY

[@intulix4857]

Kerbal space program moment

[@java4653]

Pressure Fed Astronaut is doing a whole series on 'Know Your Rocket " on KZbin. Dude is really good.

[@brolese39]

Perfect CGI

[@mumumu_you]

Flying water tower :)

[@vonbraunwerner9067]

We need some good "kraut rock" as soundtrack for that video. Any suggestion ? How about Scorpions ?

[@joelcorley3478]

Asparagus staging! How very Kerbal! I wonder if Scott Manley has seen your video?

[@ardag1439]

It is not Asparagus staging since no fuel transfer occurs between tanks, but I guess you could call it onion staging :)

[@meetoo594]

He did a video on this rocket a few years ago iirc.

[@grandicellichannel]

Starship: Water tanks can fly. OTRAG: P E N C I L S can fly.

[@apsdev]

apparantly Arca Space is now trying to do the same with their steam rocket.. You would think if you build a rocket this way you use too much material.. If you replace one tube withe 4 tubes with half the diameter, you have double the surface area. So twice the material if you have the same thickness.

[@davisdf3064]

And that is indeed true, this is such an extreme universal module concept that doesn't work very well due to weight. Big Dumb rockets work better with large tanks and big dumb engines.

[@Screeno1993]

When you build a launch vehicle for a manned eve lander

[@tonymcgray9599]

Definitely the most kerbal rocket I’ve seen so far

[@Adrian_AdamViolonDiGerma-tm3nq]

For what is this vehicle?

[@sirrodneyffing1]

I watche documentary about this in the 70's. The were firing them off in Aftrica.

[@lukeshoff3983]

What's with the boss music?

[@MOVALLEO]

BUT WHAT IS THAT HOUND?

[@zachwilliams2597]

I look at this thing and all I can hear is the falling metal pipe meme

[@macebobkasson1629]

Binoculars??? I wanna see the OH there it is :)

[@chatrabhuj6153]

Which game ?

[@ThunderBuddy602]

How you to this animation

[@GregAlterton]

The flying grain silo

[@johnbuchman4854]

So.... Earth is the Vorlon home world?

[@gabedarrett1301]

What was its projected launch cost? How exactly would multiple smaller rockets make the whole thing cheaper?

[@Gerhard_Schroeder]

Concept of the 70s / 80s...

[@FastSloth87]

By using steel, windshield wiper motors as the only moving part and mass production. SpaceX is using steel and mass production for Starship.

[@stevevernon1978]

@@FastSloth87 You should buy a nano-sat space on Starship, and make it out of a winshield wiper motor.

[@FastSloth87]

@@stevevernon1978 a lot of cubesats use tape measures as antennas, so that's not a far fetched idea.

[@MTTT1234]

The rockets were supposed to be made from off-the-shelf steel pipes used for pipelines or similar. So just mass-produced parts that were not even made by the company itself, but instead just adapted by OTRAG. Of course, it would produce a lot of space-junk falling to the ground with every launch.

[@zeevtarantov]

"Germany" is written without an "r" in the thumbnail.

[@JohnReiher]

Asparagus Staging! So Kerbal!

[@cbuchner1]

Explain what makes the outer rocket tubes fall before the inner tubes have lit 🔥

[@nottrevorallen]

greater drag. empty tubes will be more affected by air resistance then the much heavier full ones.

[@cbuchner1]

@@nottrevorallen the rocket has a huge fairing that shields the tubes from most drag. And in that scene the sky appears black indicating next to no residual air pressure.

[@nottrevorallen]

@@cbuchner1 theres still gonna be residual pressures around. they probably wouldnt pop up that quick but there would absolutely be enough drag at the first staging event as that happens arounnd its max q. second event, looks to be about 80k? at that point in a shuttle entry, you are beginning to hit the major drag areas in the entry profile. there is definitely air there also consider the sheer weight difference. fuel is very very heavy. the payload is very heavy. if youre talking about a 10 to 1 difference between weight and density, then yea you would expect to see different drag properties

[@nottrevorallen]

@@cbuchner1 also rewatching it, i think it may be hotstaging. the second separation we potentially dont hear/see it because from the camera's perspective the lit engines are inside the tube? wouldnt be the case in real life obviously, but yea this was an animation made by a person, i could see that just being an editing choice.

[@hamzahkhan8952]

its possible the second stage engines were already running. then it would be hotstaging. or it could have been atmospheric drag on the empty tanks.

[@ptonpc]

What could have been.

[@hasanjamil3969]

Germany needs a space program. After all, they invented modern rocketry

[@awddwa6544]

MOAR BOOSTERS

[@patrickradcliffe3837]

"Cluster's rise again"

[@iliketrains0pwned]

Ngl, at first I misread that as the "OGRE"... because that things got LAYERS!!

[@RealEmerald]

That is the most kerbal rocket Ive ever seen.

[@kwondo5668]

The music songs very similar to the 1980's Dune soundtrack.

[@AndrewTubbiolo]

I'm not so sure there's enough propellant in that design to reach orbit.

[@Nick-yz9fd]

Is this being marked to super villains? What's with the ominous music?

[@Tate525]

Nice graphics. I'll believe when it see it for real 😂.

[@shrimpaerospace]

you aren't supposed to believe this it's an animation channel

[@RoS_98]

Failure to Launch podcast anyone?