ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 31 -- United States Patent no. 12,589,891, issued on March 31, was assigned to ArianeGroup GmbH (Taufkirchen, Germany).
"Carrier rocket system with carrier rocket and launch assistance unit" was invented by Holger Stockfleth (Taufkirchen, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A carrier rocket system, with a carrier rocket, together with a launch assistance unit, which is detachably connected, or connectable, to the carrier rocket. The carrier rocket system is set up to take off in a horizontal launch via the launch assistance unit when thrust is generated by at least one propulsion unit of the carrier rocket. The launch assistance unit can be detached from the onward-f...