This is the third and final update on the 2013 DARE study tour where nine DARE members visit the United States to present at the Joint Propulsion Conference (JPC) and visit various companies. During our last week we not only got to see marvels of technology, but also of nature.
After presenting at the JPC and visiting Stanford University, some time was taken to enjoy the city of San Francisco and the beautiful national parks of Yosemite and Sequoia. While hiking in Sequoia we had the luck of encountering bears three times! The bears decided not to attack as they quickly noted that they were dealing with nine aspiring rocket engineers. None the less we were struck with awe to actually encounter these magnificent animals in the wild. After making our way out of Sequoia, we returned to the greater Los Angeles area to spend two days at Venice Beach. We did quite a bit of surfing and a few brave DARE members even got to work out at muscle beach.
Our return to Los Angeles was however not just for leisure purposes; on our last day before returning to the Netherlands we had a visit planned at SpaceX in Hawthorne. I think it’s fair to say that out visit to SpaceX was definitely one of the more impressing highlights of our tour. SpaceX is doing a very impressive job in refining their products. While they already have a fairly impressive track record of obtaining great feats on a comparatively small budget, their upcoming product line of the Falcon 1.1 and Merlin 1D engines appear of pristine quality and design. Especially the Merlin 1D engine looks so clean and simple compared to their predecessor. We got to see the main stage engine assembly and Falcon 1R landing legs up close and personal. It’s almost surreal to stand among the assembly line of those giant machines of which you normally only read on the news.
In addition we definitely had the best dinner of the whole tour at SpaceX. While we tested out a whole lot of fast food joints during our trip with In-N-Out burger being the absolute winner, nothing beats the SpaceX ‘lunchpad’. Where in the world can you enjoy quality food while watching the assembly of the engines on a Falcon 9 first stage? In addition you get to talk to a bunch over very enthusiastic SpaceX employees who can tell you just about anything about the work they do.
After SpaceX and spending the night in Inglewood everybody flew home to Europe. Now it’s back to building rockets ourselves. Three major milestones are planned for the next three months; the second test campaign of the Aurora engine for the Stratos II rocket, flying the first liquid fueled rocket from the Netherlands since 60 years and the CanSat 2013 competition.
DARE members in front of the SpaceX facility in Hawthrone after the tour of their facilities