25 October 2023
It´s rocket science indeed
Unite! Seed funded project ARISE fulfilled their mission
A love of rocket science was the driving force behind the collaboration between two student rocket teams from KTH and TU Darmstadt. Both teams aimed to participate in a rocket challenge. One team required a payload for their rocket, while the other team needed to obtain data and test a flight computer. Funding from the Unite Seed Fund allowed for the successful cooperation.
Without a payload, a rocket is useless - without a rocket, a payload cannot fulfil its mission. For this reason, the students' associations ÆSIR of KTH and TUDSaT of TU Darmstadt were working together on a payload project for the European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC) 2023, the biggest rocket launch contest for European university teams, held in Portugal. The purpose of the ARISE project was to design, manufacture, and launch a rocket (ÆSIR) with a unique payload (TUDSaT) in the form of subsystems of TUDSaT’s upcoming EuRoC rocket. ARISE is one of two student projects that received the first Unite! Seed Fund for student activities and have been funded from July until October 2023. The result: The team finished in 9th place at the EuRoC and achieved the second-best result in the "flight performance" category.
ÆSIR planned to participate in EuRoC 2023 with its Signý rocket but was missing a payload. TUDSaT planned to launch in the same competition in 2024 but was missing test data. TUDSaT therefore decided to support ÆSIR's launch by developing a payload and gather valuable data while at the same time gaining experience in high-performance rocketry for their own upcoming launch. During the cooperation, the teams have also explored innovative ways to repurpose and reuse materials, such as including salvaged, reused and recycled materials in the construction of the rocket.
Without a payload, a rocket is useless - without a rocket, a payload cannot fulfil its mission. For this reason, the students' associations ÆSIR of KTH and TUDSaT of TU Darmstadt were working together on a payload project for the European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC) 2023, the biggest rocket launch contest for European university teams, held in Portugal. The purpose of the ARISE project was to design, manufacture, and launch a rocket (ÆSIR) with a unique payload (TUDSaT) in the form of subsystems of TUDSaT’s upcoming EuRoC rocket. ARISE is one of two student projects that received the first Unite! Seed Fund for student activities and have been funded from July until October 2023. The result: The team finished in 9th place at the EuRoC and achieved the second-best result in the "flight performance" category.
ÆSIR planned to participate in EuRoC 2023 with its Signý rocket but was missing a payload. TUDSaT planned to launch in the same competition in 2024 but was missing test data. TUDSaT therefore decided to support ÆSIR's launch by developing a payload and gather valuable data while at the same time gaining experience in high-performance rocketry for their own upcoming launch. During the cooperation, the teams have also explored innovative ways to repurpose and reuse materials, such as including salvaged, reused and recycled materials in the construction of the rocket.
The ARISE project
It was members of KTH´s ÆSIR that heard about the Unite! Seed Fund and started looking for other associates working on aerospace projects. They contacted TUDSaT from TU Darmstadt and started collaborating right away. Tylor Kraus (from TUDSaT) is the coordinator of the ARISE project together with Eszter Szabó (from ÆSIR), in his own words:
"My nine-year-old self was always very afraid to fly, because I might crash. But I learned that the world works according to physical rules - and that if you understand them, you can make some pretty cool stuff. I've turned my gaze upwards because there's an infinity waiting to be explored. Humans can adapt to all circumstances, even to a life in space, and that fascinates me."
Both teams collaborated during the development stage, working on their respective systems whilst maintaining communication through virtual meetings. In the integration phase, the TUDSaT payload was integrated into the ÆSIR-built rocket during a visit to Stockholm, whilst the launch phase entailed joint participation of both teams in EuRoC 2023, with TUDSaT offering ground support for the payload. And their payload worked just fine: TUDSat was able to collect enough data and is well prepared for EuRoC 2024. The data is freely accessible through the following link: https://sam.koffeinflummi.de/
“In the future, we will talk about working together on a joint engine project, and we will support each other with registering for future rocket launches and competitions, as well as with any organisational challenges that arise.”
Members of the team
ÆSIR – that is Amanda Bergström, Ayana Musaev, Bawar Fareek Shekh, Cecilie Holmen, Dan Söderström, Eszter Szabó, Joonas Helminen, Kiana Ghiassi, Mário Amaro, Olle Sundberg, Olof Helgesson, Simon Boström and Xiyao Song.
TUDSaT – that is Dishant, Felix Wiegand, Hans Rübberdt, Ihsen Bouallegue, Jonas Klein, Jonathan Mayer, Manuel Schlüsener, Marco Völker and Tyler Kraus.