Category: News

Production of the Glass Fiber-epoxy Nosecone

The new website is already buzzing with activity, and here is yet another news blog concerning yet another team of the Stratos II project; the Capsule & Recovery team. The past few weeks we have performed considerable rocket-craft in our workplaces and the composites lab of the faculty of Aerospace Engineering. The main objective was to…
Read more

Stratos II Main Electronics Stack

Electronics Team One of the sub-teams within the Stratos II project is the electronics team. In the picture below you can see the most advanced device ever developed and built by the DARE electronics team, the Stratos II main electronics stack. This is what years of experience handed down by multiple members and new developments have lead…
Read more

Quality Control of Solid Fuel Grains

  As reported, two solid fuel grains where produced last week. After casting the molten fuel into the liner, it shrinks significantly during cooling. This shrinkage gives rise to a risk of internal porosities and tears in the grains. This porosities will cause uneven regression of the fuel grain and less stable burning. This is…
Read more

Stratos II newsletter – August 2014

Dear readers. It has been quite a while, but we finally put out another newsletter on the Stratos II project. In this small, concise document you can read in a short summary about the latest developments of the Statos II project. For the latest updates and more in depth information check our online blog updates…
Read more

Propulsion Test Campaign at DLR Trauen

Between June and August 2014 five static tests (#6 – #10) took place with the DHX-200 Aurora hybrid propulsion system after the motor had been on the test stand five times at the facilities of TNO, Rijswijk in 2013. This was the final set of full scale ground tests to be conducted with this system before the launch…
Read more

Nozzle Production for Stratos II

Thursday the Propulsion team produced the nozzle for Stratos II. The nozzle is the part of the rocket which expands the gas produced in the combustion chamber to supersonic speeds in order to generate the 10 kN of thrust needed to launch Stratos II half way into space. The nozzle is made from a solid piece…
Read more

Stratos Fuel Grain Production

This week the propulsion team produced the grains that will fuel Stratos II in October. The hybrid DHX-200 Aurora motor uses liquid nitrous oxide to oxidise the solid fuel grain in the combustion chamber. The solid fuel grain consist of sorbitol, paraffin and micron sized aluminium powder. A mixture of 80, 10 and 10 percent…
Read more

100 days till the launch of Stratos II

Today (the 24th of June 2014) we are officially 100 days away from the launch of Stratos II! And is was noticable here in Delft, as everyone has been very busy in the last few weeks. Our amounts of updates on the site have been a bit behind due to all the activities, so let…
Read more

Glass fiber production at Futura Composites

DARE is proud to announce that in cooperation with Futura Composites the glass fiber nosecone and upper body tube of the Stratos II project have been produced. The body tube and nosecone are critical parts of the capsule. They carry all the structural loads that the capsule will experience during flight. During the past few months a…
Read more

Propulsion System CFD Analysis

To date (May 2014) the Stratos II propulsion team has had two static test campaigns of the DHX-200 Aurora at TNO. Both campaigns resulted in the motor rupturing the chamber and the test being stopped prematurely. This issue and the solution to it has been talked about in previous blog posts. What was not mentioned…
Read more

We are recruiting

Join us in shaping the future of European reusable launch vehicles.