Dorado is Equatorial Space Systems' hybrid-propulsion sounding rocket, designed as a responsive, 100% explosives-free launcher for delivering small payloads to suborbital altitudes.
Dorado
Dorado is Equatorial Space Systems' hybrid-propulsion sounding rocket, designed as a responsive, 100% explosives-free launcher for delivering small payloads to suborbital altitudes.
Description
Dorado is a responsive suborbital launch vehicle developed by Singapore-based Equatorial Space Systems, built around the company's proprietary HTP/HRF-1 hybrid rocket propulsion system. Marketed as an environmentally cleaner sounding rocket, Dorado eliminates pyrotechnics and explosives entirely, ships fully inert for easy transport, and is designed to minimize toxic effluents compared to conventional solid or kerolox propellant systems. It is intended to deliver small science, technology-demonstration, and academic payloads to suborbital trajectories, offering a low-cost, safe, and operationally flexible alternative to traditional sounding rockets. Earlier public disclosures described single- and dual-stage configurations reaching roughly 105 km and over 200 km respectively; current official specifications list a single-stage configuration reaching approximately 100 km apogee with about 3 minutes of microgravity. As of mid-2026, Dorado has not conducted a full suborbital demonstration flight to the Karman line; the company's flight heritage to date consists of a sub-scale Low Altitude Demonstrator hybrid-motor test flight to about 1,200 m in December 2020 in Malaysia and multiple ground motor test-fires, with Dorado's own maiden launch repeatedly delayed and still pending.
Specifications
| Propulsion | HTP/HRF-1 hybrid rocket motor, pyrotechnics/explosives-free |
|---|---|
| Payload capacity | 20 kg |
| Apogee | ~100 km (single-stage) |
| Microgravity access | ~3 minutes |
| Payload volume | 41 liters |
| Configuration | Single-stage or dual-stage variants |
| Flight heritage | No Dorado flight to date as of mid-2026; related sub-scale demonstrator flew to ~1,200 m altitude on 21 Dec 2020 (Perak, Malaysia); ground motor test-fires ongoing |