Category: Stratos II hybrid propulsion

Stratos II+ launch season kick-off

With Summer in our wake and the Holiday season still a couple of months away, we enter our favourite part of the year: The DARE Launch Season. As you may recall, last September/October we travelled to the south of Spain, to the INTA’s El Arenosillo launch base, where we attempted to launch our Stratos II…
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Upcoming hardware tests for Stratos II+ in cooperation with TNO

With the redesign work of Stratos II+ nearly finished, the propulsion and capsule teams are working hard to prepare two upcoming test campaigns. Both teams will conduct their test at the facilities of TNO, the leading Dutch organization in the field of applied physics research. The capsule team will start the test phase with vibration…
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Launch Campaign Stratos II Day 9

The last day of the launch window is finally upon us. The whole team knows that it is now or never. For today our trajectory simulation experts have kept a close eye on the weather. It was found that the launch window would be open until 14:00. After 14:00, the wind speed would increase which…
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Launch Campaign Stratos II Day 8

As many of you have read or seen our story on social media or on the Livestream, today the launch of the Stratos II rocket was planned. The day started very early. All teammembers set their alarm at 5:30 so that we could start the final rocket assembly early and have the possibility to launch in…
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Launch Campaign Stratos II Day 7

Last night has been a very stressful night for the engineers of Stratos II. The capsule team stayed up until 4:00 in the morning to perform final integration of the electronics inside the capsule section. Luckily the other engineers who did have a good night sleep made a delicious breakfast to start the day well.…
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Technical Blog: Launch Safety (part two)

A rocket, more so than other vehicles, is subject to extensive safety requirements and procedures. In part two of this technical blogpost we will discuss how safety considerations determine the countdown and flight of Stratos II. A certain trajectory Stratos II is an unmanned vehicle, as such it could just deploy its parachute on a…
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Launch Campaign Stratos II Day 6

With only one day left until the launch, today was supposed to be a very stressful day. After a tasty breakfast with bacon and eggs, the team started very early this morning to get all the subsystems ready for integration into the rocket. However, at about 10:00 (CEST) the management of the Stratos II project decided to have…
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Launch Campaign Stratos II Day 5

The Stratos II Team is getting excited with only 2 days to go until launch. The weather at the launch site INTA located near Huelva in Spain is looking very promising. The temperature is not too hot in the morning, which is essential for the launch. The rocket motor stays cool. That is why we…
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Stratos II Actuation Test

On Sunday the 7th of September the Stratos II launch crew conducted a test of the entire actuation system of the Stratos II rocket. This ran through the important systems demonstrating that it can handle the oxidizer as expected.  The test involved filling the rocket with the same equipment as it will be in Spain, and rehearsing and optimising…
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Dress Rehearsal Stratos II Launch

The dress rehearsal of the Stratos II launch took place on the 28th and 29th of August 2014 inside the Dreamhal Building of the TU Delft. During the rehearsal the electronics team, capsule team and the propulsion team assembled their systems. Moreover, the launch tower set-up and the mounting of the rocket were rehearsed and…
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