  During the last decades the industry has seen the number of Earth orbiting
satellites rise, mostly due to the need to monitor Earth as well as to
establish global communication networks. Nano, micro, and small satellites have
been a prime tool for answering these needs, with large and mega constellations
planned, leading to a potential launch gap. An effective and commercially
appealing solution is the development of small launchers, as these can
complement the current available launch opportunity offer, serving a large pool
of different types of clients, with a flexible and custom service that large
conventional launchers cannot adequately assure. Rocket Factory Augsburg has
partnered with CEiiA for the development of several structures for the RFA One
rocket. The objective has been the design of solutions that are low-cost,
light, and custom-made, applying design and manufacturing concepts as well as
technologies from other industries, like the aeronautical and automotive, to
the aerospace one. This allows for the implementation of a New Space approach
to the launcher segment, while also building a supply chain and a set of
solutions that enables the industrialisation of such structures for this and
future small launchers. The two main systems under development have been a
versatile Kick-Stage, for payload carrying and orbit insertion, and a sturdy
Payload Fairing. Even though the use of components off-the-shelf have been
widely accepted in the space industry for satellites, these two systems pose
different challenges as they must be: highly reliable during the most extreme
conditions imposed by the launch, so that they can be considered safe to launch
all types of payloads. This paper thus dives deep on the solutions developed in
the last few years, presenting also lessons learned during the manufacturing
and testing of these structures.
