Students build a rocket for research at the border of space



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This week he must fly. The Stratos III rocket built by a student team at TU Delft. On Tuesday, July 24 from 21:00, the student team TU Delft DARE will make a first attempt to launch the rocket into the upper layers of the atmosphere. In addition, they want to break the European height record for student rockets, which is currently 32.3 km. All the pieces, including the rocket motor, were developed by the students themselves. The launch will bring the team closer to its goal: to be the first student team in the world to reach the space.

The student team working on the rocket called DARE, which stands for Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering. This student association exists since 2001 and members have already launched several large rockets at this time; in 2009 with Stratos I (12.5 km altitude) and in 2015 with Stratos II + (21.5 km altitude), the two European altitude records. In 2016, however, they lost the record of a German student team. "There really is a new space race between our team and the student teams from Europe and the United States," says Martin Olde, a member of the team.

Launch of Spain

The launch is scheduled for July 24, 2018 and July 27. The launch attempt is scheduled for the evening but delays due to wind, fishing boats or technical problems can delay the attempt. "In order to launch the rocket safely, we have to maintain an area of ​​the province of Free Friesland with boats and other traffics at sea. Safety is of course the most important thing, but it makes it very exciting ", Explains team leader Jesse Hummel

Again Kaarsvet and Koffiezoetjes

Stratos III is very similar to the previous Stratos II rocket of 2015. It is more than 8 meters long and the most Much of the rocket is the hybrid rocket engine developed by the students themselves.The fuel is the special combination of nitrous oxide with candle wax, coffee sweets and gun powder. This "rocket fuel" is manufactured by the students themselves and finally provides 2500 kg of thrust so that the rocket can reach more than 3 times the speed of sound, or more than 3600 km / h. engine, at the tip of the rocket, is an inst scientific rument, four cameras and the on-board computer. After a flight of just over 10 minutes, the tip of the rocket must splash into a parachute into the sea. Stratos III carries a NLR payload (Dutch Aerospace Center). NLR has manufactured a prototype flight computer for SMILE that they want to test on our flight. SMILE is a European project for the design and creation of a small satellite launcher for Europe. With the huge growth in the number of small satellites launched, the EU wants to become a player in this market. The payload will take action during the flight to develop a better flight computer for SMILE.

More information: http://dare.tudelft.nl/stratos-iii/

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