The test bench of the Aurora at the TNO test facility

In the dark rocket test tunnel at TNO in Rijswijk the biggest machine ever build by Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering has been erected to demonstrate its power in the full scale, full duration tests of the Stratos II rocket engine.

Already in May this year we were shown the first glimpses of what this engine can do (see the article), but also what kind of problems it still had. During the test back then the combustion chamber failed because of cracks in the fuel grain. Now, after the summer holidays, and after a long period of preparation to fix this problem, the team has set the engine up again to run it at its full capacity.

Unfortunately no tests could be conducted on Monday due to unfavorable weather conditions. For the tests to be permitted a specific amount of wind from a Western or South-Western direction is needed. Hopefully the weather will soon turn “better” so that we will be allowed to test.

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