German company HyImpulse has successfully launched a candle wax-powered rocket capable of carrying commercial satellites on a test suborbital flight into space for the first time.

“We’re signalling Germany’s prowess as a space-faring nation and expanding Europe’s access to space,” HyImpulse’s chief executive Mario Kobald said on Friday.

The 12-metre, 2.5-tonne test rocket dubbed SR75 lifted off just after 0500 GMT on Friday from a launch site in Koonibba, South Australia.

It is capable of carrying small satellites weighing up to 250kg to an altitude of up to 250km while being fuelled by paraffin, or candle wax, and liquid oxygen.

Paraffin can be used as a cheaper and safer alternative fuel for rockets, reducing satellite transportation costs by as much as 50 per cent, according to HyImpulse.

The company, which has 65 employees and was spun off from Germany’s space agency DLR, said it already had orders for satellite transportation worth 100 million euros ($160 million).

The project was mostly privately financed with “some public backing”, the startup’s statement said.

Hyimpulse aims to expand as demand for commercial satellites grows, and it is eyeing 700 million euros worth of annual sales by 2032.

By the end of 2025, it plans to launch SL-1 – a larger, multi-stage rocket capable of deploying satellites weighing up to 600kg into low earth orbits.

–AAP