Arvakr

The Arvakr is a family of space launch vehicles designed by the Ringerike National Space Commission and manufactured Kongelig Flyfabrikk's Rocket division to provide an indigenous medium lift capability that could eventually be developed into a human rated launch system. First Launched on 6th August 1994 carrying a test payload and has since been launched multiple times over several variants for on both civil and military missions.

History
The Arvakr was designed to provide a greater lift capacity than the preceding Yggdrasil series of Solid fueled rockets, to achieve this it was decided a liquid fueled system would be developed based on earlier unflown designs by the RNSC. The resulting work led to a first stage powered by a four chamber RM-14 RP1/LOX engine and a second stage powered by RM-144 engine also powered by RP1/LOX. The Arvakr 1 first flew in 1994 carrying a mass simulator.

Construction on the Launch facilities began in 1988 with two pads added to RRAF Hansensbukt's Pad Group 03 and a single pad constructed at the Nordland Rocket Range. Since the first flight the Arvakr has proven to be a reliable launch system, with a limited number of failures attributed to the vehicle itself. It has been involved in both civil and military launch programs including the Heimdallr series Reconnaissance satellites.

The Arvakr 2, a three stage design consisting of a 1F with an RP1/LOX fuelled upper stage designed to propel payloads into higher orbits, was first launched in 2004.

The Arvakr 3 began design work at the same time as the 1F, designed from the start of a high degree of reusability, it differs from the other rockets of it's family by using a cluster of multiple smaller RM-11 RP1/LOX in the first stage and a single vacuum-optimized RM-11V in the second stage, the development of the Arvakr 3 also saw a distinct change in the design process philosophy and approach to the program as a whole, whereas previous RNSC rockets had been solely operated by the organization and offered only to select partners for payload space, the Arvakr 3 would be offered for use by as many customers as possible by a subsidiary of it's manufacturer, allowing the rapid iteration of the design based on a wider range of launch experience. It's high degree of reusability is achieved by landing the first stage vertically on a dedicated recovery pad, it its controlled on descent by grid fins and the vectored thrust of a number of it's first stage engines. The Arvakr 3 first launched in 2012 and was successfully human rated in 2019 with the intent being to launch using Chezzetcooker semi-reusable launch vehicles pending the development of an indigenous model.

Arvakr 1
Original version first launched in 1994, the Arvakr 1 has seen multiple iterations over it's service but was retired in favor of the Arvakr 3 in 2014.

Arvakr 2
Three stage model first launched in 2004, remains in service.

Arvakr 3
Partially reusable variant that has supplanted the Arvakr 1, its has seen several iterations since it's first launch, with the most recent model being the Arvakr 3F4, it is human rated, with the first such flights planned in the near future.

Sleipnir
The Arvakr 3ST Sleipnir is a heavy launch vehicle family currently operating up to 100,000 kg to LEO range, consisting of a varying number of Arvakr cores arranged as boosters around a large core stage, it began it's life as a design study by Kongelig Romoppskytningsgruppe, offered to the Ringeriker government as a future development, the RNSC showed no interest at the time, however following the first successful launches of the Arvakr family, the Chezzetcooker government expressed it's interest, and development began, with co-operation facilitated by the Northern Integrated Systems Group. A further development of this idea features eight boosters and second stage formed of a modified version of the core stage, this model would be capable of lifting 175,000 kg.

Arvakr 3T
The Arvakr 3T is a proposed heavy lift model capable of launching payloads of 63,800 kg to LEO, it essentially consists of 2 Aravkr 3 cores strapped to the sides of another Arvakr 3, potentially with a third stage added. Design work has advanced beyond the paper stage, however it may not receive RNSC funding so is entirely reliant on private investment.

Operators
 Ringerike
 * The Arvakr has been operated by the RNSC, RRAF and by Kongelig Flyfabrikk's subsidiary, Kongelig Romoppskytningsgruppe