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Swiss Space Systems (S3) is a company which plans to provide orbital launches of small satellites and suborbital spaceflights to space tourists.
The company is based at Payerne Airport in western Switzerland, where it plans to build a spaceport in 2015. Suborbital spaceplanes will be launched from an Airbus A300, giving the spacecraft more initial speed and altitude than if it were launched from the ground. The spacecraft, in turn, will release a disposable third stage. The company targets to charge 10 million CHF for a launch, using unmanned suborbital spaceplanes that could carry satellites weighing up to 250 kilos (550 pounds). The costs are reduced by the reusable nature of the spaceplane and other launch facilities and by a lower fuel-consumption than conventional systems.
The spaceplane will also provide suborbital spaceflights to tourists, with the addition of a pressurised module.
