Main Achievements of the Rocket Technology Flight Experiment ROTEX-T

Based on experience gathered during the hypersonic flight experiments SHEFEX-I and SHEFEX-II the German Aerospace Center (DLR) performed the extensively instrumented flight experiment ROTEX-T (ROcket Technology EXperiment-Transition). ROTEX-T was successfully launched on 19th July 2016 at 06:05 am CEST from the Esrange Space Center near Kiruna in northern Sweden. Students of the RWTH Aachen University supported the design of the project with numerical simulations. ROTEX-T was a low cost flight experiment mission without inertial measurement unit, reaction control and parachute system. The payload reached an altitude of 183 kilometers, performed a ballistic re-entry with a total flight time of approximately 446 seconds and was afterwards recovered by helicopter. An unique and modular data acquisition system with sampling rates of 20 Hz, 1 kHz, 10 kHz and 2000 kHz was developed for ROTEX-T to study also instationary aerothermal phenomena

Development and Projected Performance of the Red Kite Sounding Rocket Motor

Averaging about ten launches per year, DLR Mobile Rocket Base (MORABA) has been supporting rocket borne research for more than five decades. Major fields of experimentation include atmospheric physics, microgravity-based research in material physics and biology as well as hypersonic flight research and technology development. Over the last decade, a sustained demand has evolved for sounding rocket vehicles with the capacity to deliver payloads in the order of 400 kg gross mass into trajectories with apogees beyond 250 km or extended dwell time in the hypersonic regime. To leverage cost efficient and reliable military surplus motors such as the Improved Malemute for use in this regime, DLR has contracted Bayern-Chemie GmbH for a joint development and delivery of a suitable solid propellant motor to be used as a first stage. Currently in project phase C, the definition of the motor performance, materials and design are completed and manufacturing of first components has begun. The paper gives an overview of the motor performance and safety characteristics, applications of the motor in vehicle combinations with their projected performances and a schedule of tasks until qualification flight

Red Kite Qualification and Application Spectrum

The Red Kite© is a commercially available, serially produced solid propellant sounding rocket motor in the class of one ton of net explosive mass. It was developed in response to a sustained demand from the scientific community for high performance sounding rocket vehicles. The Red Kite is primarily designed to be employed as a powerful booster for military surplus and commercial second stages, but can also be used as a sustainer when boosted by either an even larger motor or by another Red Kite. Typical payloads will range between 200 to 600 kg. When used in a mission design tailored to microgravity research, typical apogees range between 250 to 300 km, while the needs of the hypersonic community can be met by a suppressed trajectory design, typically providing horizontal flight at Mach numbers between 6 to 9 in the altitude band 30 to 60 km. Following a Phase A definition study in 2017, the German Aerospace Center DLR contracted Bayern-Chemie GmbH in 2020 for the development and manufacturing of the Red Kite motor, initially providing 30 serial units. Subsequent to preliminary design and materials selection phase, ground testing of mechanical, pyrotechnical and electrical subsystems was conducted. Finally, two full scale qualification motors were successfully test-fired in August 2023 at ESRANGE Space Center, with the test models tempered to the upper and lower limits of the operational temperature envelope after having completed a rigorous protocol of thermal cycling and mechanical vibration representative of loads to be expected during handling, transport and flight. Following the successful qualification, serial production was initiated and serial motor number one released for a maiden flight from Andøya Space Center in November 2023, proving the design in flight successfully. The paper gives a summary of the motor performance, aspects of the system design, the qualification program and its application spectrum in active and future sounding rocket vehicles

Dopamine transporter (DAT1) and dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) genotypes differentially impact on electrophysiological correlates of error processing

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The Flight Control of SHEFEX II

SHEFEX II (Sharp Edge Flight Experiment) was a twostage sounding rocket mission to investigate advanced reentry technology. The successful launch was conducted from Andøya Rocket Range, Norway in June 2012. Comprising a suppressed trajectory, initiated by a cold-gas pointing maneuver prior to 2nd stage ignition, and spanning 800 km over the Norwegian sea, it was the most complex sounding rocket mission ever carried out by the German Aerospace Center DLR. To maximize the chances of a mission success, a mission scenario was developed that accounted for system failures and permitted to compensate for them or at least tolerate them long as no safety limits were infringed. The actual flight proved these measures very effective. A strong deviation of the unguided 1st stage from its nominal trajectory could be successfully compensated for by the flight control of the 2nd stage. This resulted in a nominal mission sequence and payload impact in immediate proximity of the nominal aiming point

Sounding Rocket Dispersion Reduction by Second Stage Pointing Control

The mission architecture of SHEFEX II features a two-stage solid propellant sounding rocket vehicle on a suppressed trajectory, which is induced by a cold gas pointing maneuver of the vehicle before second stage ignition. The impact point is subject to a 3-� dispersion of roughly�110 kmin downrange and�90 kmin crossrange, which makes a recovery of the vehicle particularly difficult, as the whole impact area is located off shore and the vehicle needs to be recovered by ship. As the major part to dispersion is contributed during the atmospheric ascent of the vehicle, a control algorithm is developed that considers the actual deviation from the nominal trajectory after atmospheric exit and recommends a vehicle pointing that corrects for this deviation. The analytic control algorithm is found by linear/quadratic approximation of the impact point sensitivity towards the deviations after atmospheric exit and to the pointing angles. The effectiveness of the algorithm is tested by implementing it in a full six-degree-offreedom simulation and applying dispersion factors in a Monte Carlo simulation. The result is a reduction of the impact point dispersion area by about 78%

Material Physics Rockets MAPHEUS-3/4: Flights and Developments

Sounding rockets can serve as a time- and cost-effective platform for a wide range of research under microgravity conditions. It is shown that MAPHEUS – MaterialPhysikalische Experimente Unter Schwerelosigkeit (Materials Physics Experiments under Weightlesness) – a DLR internal R&D project perfectly achieves this whilst maximizing scientific output. MAPHEUS hereby offers launch opportunities on a yearly basis and with comparatively short development cycles of about one year only. In the first three campaigns MAPHEUS provided about three minutes of microgravity time. Recent developments enable to extend this to four minutes above 100 km. Performance data of the recent MAPHEUS-3 flight together with information on the experiment modules are provided. Further an outlook is given on the experiment modules used on board of MAPHEUS-4 and the new vehicle

VSB-30 sounding rocket: history of flight performance

The VSB-30 vehicle is a two-stage, unguided, rail launched sounding rocket, consisting of two solid propellant motors, payload, with recovery and service system. By the end of 2010, ten vehicles had already been launched, three from Brazil (Alcântara) and seven from Sweden (Esrange). The objective of this paper is to give an overview of the main characteristics of the first ten flights of the VSB-30, with emphasis on performance and trajectory data. The circular 3Ï dispersion area for payload impact point has around 50 km of radius. In most launchings of such vehicle, the impact of the payload fell within 2 sigma. This provides the possibility for further studies to decrease the area of dispersion from the impact point

Conceptual Design of the High-Speed Propelled Experimental Flight Test Vehicle HEXAFLY

A concise overview of the overall layout of an experimental powered high-speed flight vehicle including its subsystems is given. A mission scenario, the different flight segments and events to which the payload is exposed are described and justified. This allowed the definition of the aero-thermo-mechanical loads required to conceptually design all elements on board of the vehicle. The final vehicle configuration could achieve the different mission objectives. In particular an aero-propulsive balance, i.e. thrust ≥ drag and lift ≥ weight, could be established at a cruise Mach number of M = 7.4 on the basis of a hydrogen powered scramjet engine while guaranteeing a good aerodynamic efficiency L/D ≥ 4 in a stable, trimmed and controlled way. The experimental combustion campaign could last for at least for 3s up to 9s pending on the finally obtained flight level. This test time is very valuable as it is about 3 orders of magnitude higher of what can be tested in European ground facilities. The vehicle made maximum use of databases, expertise, technologies and materials elaborated in previously EC co-funded projects ATLLAS I & II and LAPCAT I & II. Based on this conceptual design, the consortium has arrived at a key point where they feel comfortable to go to the next step in establishing a detailed design of the vehicle and the preparation of the launch vehicle and flight campaign

VLM-1 - Vehicle Design and Analysis (XTRAS-TN-VLM-20150302)

This report is a summary of the activities performed by the X-TRAS (Expertise Raumtransportsysteme) group within the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in 2014, based on the data and design created by the VLM-1 development team of DLR and the Brazilian Aerospace Technology and Science Department (DCTA/IAE). The analyses were conducted with the present configuration of the VLM-1 Carrier, which is close to the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of the Vehicle. VLM-1 is a three-staged solid propellant rocket, capable of scientific suborbital and microsatellite launches. The first two stages feature identical S50 solid rocket motors with thrust vector control and a fixed-nozzle, spin stabilized S44 solid rocket motor in third stage on top. Its maiden flight will take place at Alcantara launch site (Centro de Lançamento de Alcântara) in Brazil. VLM-1 unites flightproven, robust sounding rocket heritage technology and hardware, newly developed motors and structures, and advanced control systems in order to provide efficient launch services. Investigations in this report include, but are not limited to: aerodynamics, trajectory and performance, load analysis, control systems and flight stability, guidance and navigation, mechanical design, separation processes, trust vector control, solid rocket motors, electrical and RF systems, ground infrastructure, fairing separation, launcher testing and qualification, costs, mission cases, and future upgrades; The VLM-1 launcher’s capabilities and system design are described and analyzed in this case study