With the launch site of the Stratos II+ rocket being situated in Spain and the team being based in The Netherlands, we need to get the Stratos II+ across Europe. A rocket of this size is not exactly something you would just put in the trunk of your car and drive off, as the size, amount of equipment and the…
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Thursday was the day of the second dress rehearsal for the Stratos II+ rocket and the final rehearsal before shipping to Spain. During the dress rehearsals the Stratos II+ crew practices all the procedures required to launch the rocket as they will be doing in Spain. By practicing all procedures as realistically as possible the…
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My name is Douwe van Willigen and I am a member of the electronics team of DARE. Since the failed launch attempt of October 2014 we have been working hard on improving the systems in Stratos II+ to make all the systems as reliable as we can. One of the systems that we have improved a lot since last…
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It has cost us about a year, many a night’s worth of sleep, and maybe some of us have gained some grey hairs, but here it finally is: The Stratos II+. To celebrate this milestone we organised a small, official unveiling of the rocket on 3 September. Here, in the presence of sponsors, and members…
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After the Stratos II launch attempt had run its course and everyone had recovered from the two weeks in Spain, the discussion was started on how to continue the project. Should we build a new rocket and skip the 50 km mark altogether or improve the system and try again? As the majority of the…
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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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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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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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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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The Hungarian Institute for Energy Research (EK) is providing a small radiation measurement system to measure radiation levels in the higher layers of the atmosphere. The cosmic radiation field is not well known up to the altitude of the lower orbiting spacecrafts. Since the frequency of manned space flights is increasing faster nowadays than before…
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