Since arriving here at Esrange the Stratos team has been waiting for the chance to launch the Stratos rocket, and it looks like that chance will finally come this Friday or Saturday. But there was one other thing that we also had been waiting for: the chance to see Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights. The weather had been mostly cloudy so everytime we went outside to try to see it the only thing that could be seen was a bright moon. Then yesterday evening during a team meeting someone came in and told us to go outside. So we broke up the meeting and quickly went outside. At first only a faint green glow could be seen. When we walked away from the lights of the base the glow became a bit brighter, but then after a couple minutes it disappeared almost completely. Not yet discouraged we walked further away from the base and the glow started coming back. We saw a green glowing belt right above us that slowly started to grow brighter. Then suddenly it became really bright and started moving as if it was blowing in the wind. Part of it was green and some other parts were more pink and it was waving like a flag. Describing the Northern Lights with words is something for which a poetic talent is needed, which I do not possess, so I won’t try any further. There are lots of beautiful pictures of the Northern Lights, but they cannot convey the majesty of seeing it actually moving in the sky. Seeing the Northern Lights is definitely something to try before you die. As is seeing a rocket launch of course, but more on that in the coming days.

This morning the last connectors were soldered to the Annabel capsule. The wireharness of the Annabel capsule has also been trimmed today. The hardware of the Annabel capsule is now ready to fly. There are two capsules for the Stratos rocket, Annabel en Betty. If the first capsule malfunctions then the whole capsule can be replaced by the backup. The capsule is the part which is recovered and consists of the ETAG, payload, flightcomputer and recovery system.

This afternoon a very important test took place. Six igniters were connected to the flight computer. These igniters, also called squibs, activate the systems which separate the booster section from the sustainer section, light the sustainer motor and deploy the drogue parachute. The flight computer was fed with fake date to simulate the flight. The flight computer ignited the squibs exactly at the right moment.

The daily Esrange briefing this morning was very interesting. They will launch REXUS 6 tomorrow morning and will try to bring REXUS 5 to the tower directly after the launch. This will mean that we probably can start preparing the Stratos rocket tomorrow after the lunch. If everything goes well the REXUS 5 will be launched Friday morning. This leaves the Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday for us to launch the Stratos. If we can assemble the Stratos faster then expected we can launch Friday afternoon.

The first possible launch opportunity to launch the Stratos rocket is this Friday afternoon, depending on the weather here at Esrange and the Rexus launches. The second balloon of the balloon campaign was launched yesterday evening, meaning that the balloon campaign has now finished. The Rexus 6 is set to launch on Thursday and then the Rexus 5 on Friday early in the morning. This leaves the first launch opportunity for Stratos on Friday afternoon. The weather looks good for now to launch, but this may of course change. If the launch on Friday is delayed  the next possible launch opportunity will be on Saturday.

Today most of us skipped breakfast because of the balloon launch early in the morning. After the lunch we had to say goodbye to our teammate Christina. She had to leave for ESA Estect Noordwijk for her interview to get into the ESA traineeship program. We wish her the best of luck. Christina zet hem op!!

The rest of the afternoon was spent on little things like packing the ETAG into foam. Also some wires in the wireharness were changed to hook up the camera. Fortunately this is very easy with the Harwin connectors we use.

Tonight the second balloon will be deployed. At 00:15 local time the balloon should lift-off from the pad. The Rexus 6 was not launched today because of technical problems. This means delays for us again. Hopefully they will launch it tomorrow so we can launch Saturday in the best case scenario.

Not only a daily update this time, but also a nightly update. The TWIN balloon was launched at 05:21:40 this morning. The TWIN balloon is one of two balloons taking part in a balloon launch campaign here at Esrange. Since January the launch had been rescheduled multiple times due to weather conditions, but tonight it finally lifted off.

The balloons that are launched from Esrange are filled with more than 150 000 m³ helium and can reach altitudes of about 30 km. They are launched from the balloon platform, which is basically a huge plane of snow and ice. Before the launch first a small weather balloon is launched to determine the wind profile at different altitudes. The balloons are filled with helium at the balloon platform. When the balloon has been filled it is released and it slowly lifts to the sky. After a couple of hours the payload is released, which then falls to the ground on a parachute. It is recoverd by helicopter.

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Dawn flight engine ready to go

On Thursday the 3th of May 2012, the hybrid propulsion team of the Stratos II project (named Dawn) successfully tested their flight engine. This hybrid rocket engine has been developed based on the research they have done during the whole span of the project. Now finally they are ready to go for the first attempt in the history of DARE to launch a hybrid rocket engine. The team has kept to their original design of an engine with a sorbitol fuel grain and a nitrous oxide oxidizer. To store the oxidizer the tank concept developed during the Spacecraft Engineering Minor [...]