Category: News

Rocket Science for Beginners

The last period has been extremely exciting. I had the amazing chance to join DARE for the Small Rocket Project (SRP) project, during which we were given the task to design, build and launch a small rocket. The primary mission was to launch an egg to 1km altitude, and retrieving it back safely. On top…
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High Precision Components

While most components of our rocket are built by our own engineers in the D:Dream hall, some components require such high precision that it is not possible for us to make them ourselves. For two of these high-precision components Precimax is helping us by offering their expertise and machinery. Precimax is a Dutch company specialized…
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The fifth wind tunnel campaign of DARE

On the 15th and 16th of March, the Parachute Research Group (PRG) of DARE performed its fifth wind tunnel test campaign. This wind tunnel campaign had two major test goals, which are the following: To accept the Stratos flight hardware To test reefing on cross parachutes The first goal was to determine if the new…
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Engine Control Unit and Umbilical

We are nearing the launch of Stratos III in the coming summer. This means it’s time to finish all hardware design so that we can focus on making the rocket behave as we want – the embedded system development can only progress when you have your hardware hooked up to each other. Without this interconnection,…
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Bleed Valve Control

Remember from an older blog post of mine where I went through the design process of an electrical-mechanical interface and ended with the futuristic-looking, 3D-printed prototype casing? In the meantime, we have been able to design, produce and test the printed circuit board (PCB) that goes on top of it: the bleed valve controller! After…
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Telemetry electronics of Stratos III

Now that the Data Control Unit is made, work can start on the Telemetry PCB. This board will take data from the DCU and make sure it gets to the ground stations. It also takes the video from two of the on-board cameras and transmits those streams to the ground, after overlaying useful data on…
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Making the Data Control Unit for Stratos III

After ordering the Recovery Board, I immediately started working on the next thing: The Data Control Unit (DCU). This piece of electronics hardware will also be a part of the flight computer. It will take control over and manage a big part of the data-flow in the flight computer. DCU will also decide on what…
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Stratos III Recovery System

Touch down! After the ascent phase, the Stratos III nosecone will have to be recovered. The recovery is important as flight data and payloads are stored in the nosecone. Without a successful recovery, it could be difficult to validate the record. In some previous updates we have shown several parachutes and multiple parachute deployment device…
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The fourth wind tunnel campaign

On the 18th and 19th of December, the DARE recovery team performed the fourth wind tunnel campaign. The experiments, performed in the Open Jet Facility in Delft, were done to test several new parachute designs and to validate the Stratos III recovery system. Besides our own designs we were visited by Mads Stenfatt from Copenhagen…
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How to order a PCB

Recently we finished the design of the Recovery Printed Circuit Board and, after many reviews and small changes, it was finally ordered. At a Tuesday evening Electronics meeting we said “let’s order it tonight”, expecting it to take maybe an hour max. We still had to run some design rule checks, that’s when Altium checks…
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