During the long weekend over Ascension Day (17 – 20 may) the hybrid propulsion team (Project Dawn) successfully launched “Morning Star”, the first ever hybrid-propelled rocket within DARE at the Model Rocket Flight Days (RJD 2012) in Roitzschjora, Germany.

This technology demonstration flight marks a milestone for project Dawn and was the final step in showing that the team is capable of designing, manufacturing, testing and flying a hybrid rocket engine.

Morning Star rocket in flight shortly after launch

The rocket, being named after the engine that carried it, reached an altitude of about 1 km and was recovered using a drogue and main parachute system. The parachutes came out perfectly on cue by means of the deployment system. However the line of the drogue chute wrapped around the main parachute and prevented it from opening. The rocket descended however sufficiently slow on the drogue to prevent major damage on landing. The only damage was on one fin and on one tank connector.

Morning Star rocket in tower prior to launch

Next up is the development of a Stratos II –sized engine within the next six months which will likely become DARE’s largest and most powerful engine to date. For the coming weeks the Dawn team will first focus on further tests of fuels to determine what kind of fuel they will want to use for the eventual engine.

Team picture of Hybrid propulsion development team with Morning Star rocket

The most important “Morning Star” rocket / engine characteristics can be found in the table below. Further, more detailed data on the flight of the rocket will hopefully be retrieved soon from the flight electronics.