Author: 74106201

The last few weeks we worked hard on the SED. We had to do some minor changes on the existing chapters and added new ones. Initially it was planned to use compressed air, but after some discussions with other teams and experts, we decided to use nitrogen as propellant. Furthermore, we determined to use RODOS, a real-time OS to control the experiment.
The next milestone is the CDR (Critical Design Review) in about two weeks at the DLR Oberpfaffenhofen, which is located near Munich and one of Germany’s largest research centres. We are all excited, especially Tobias Wahl, who will stay two days longer for a special soldering course, which teaches us to solder for special purposes e.g. to survive the harsh envirnoment of vacuum and high acceleration forces during rocket launch.

This month most of our main components and parts for manufacturing of our PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) arrived.
Fun fact: we use commercial paintball products for our tank and pressure regulator.
We also got tools and supplies from Pathos, a former REXUS-Team of our University, which we will use for the construction. With the parts at hand we are able to exactly measure the components for the CAD drawings.
Now we are ready to wrap up our design phase to discuss our final draft with the experts at the CDR (Critical Design Review).

Pressure Tank with Regulator and Pinvalve

Some Electronics and our Flight Computer (down left)

Pinvalve – is attached to the first regulator

Pressure Sensors – to monitor the pressure in the tank and the system

The pressure tank is usually used for paintball games 😉

First Pressure Regulator – to reduce the pressure from about 100 bar to around 21 bar

On Sunday, 14th February, four of us travelled to Kiruna, which is the northernmost town in Sweden, to participate in the Student Training Week. After a long flight we met the other teams at the airport before we were picked up by bus and brought to the Esrange Space Center. We arrived late in the night and had a homely welcome.
The next morning the Training Week began with a safety briefing and general information about REXUS/BEXUS and the sponsors and supporters. After dinner we went for a walk and saw the first polar lights. It was an amazing impression!
During the week we had a lot of interesting and helpful lectures concerning mechanics, software design, verification and testing, management and outreach. In order to get to know each other every team introduced its experiment in a short presentation and we had a funny team building session, where we had to recreate a plane with Lego bricks. In our free time we went cross-country skiing, sledding and enjoyed spending time with the other teams and the experts.
On Wednesday we presented our experiment to the Review Board, which went very well. Thereafter the experts discussed the SED (Student Experiment Document) and gave us some advice. Now we wait for the PDR report.
On the last day we visited the iron ore mine in Kiruna, which is one of the largest underground iron ore mines in the world. Afterwards we had some time to see the center and the church of Kiruna before we went to the Ice Hotel of Jukkasjärvi. Besides the hotel there is a chapel and a bar made out of snow and ice.
It was a great week with fantastic experiences, so we would like to thank all people responsible, who enabled and organized the week and also the other teams for the great time!
Under Student Training Week in the gallery you can see more pictures!

After many team meetings and plenty of work, our first Student Experiment Documentation (SED) is finished. Now we are all looking forward to the Student Training Week and Preliminary Design Review (PDR), which will take place at the SSC Esrange Space Center!
The SSC Esrange Space Center is located in northern Sweden above the Arctic Circle, so we have to be prepared for super low temperatures of up to -30°C.