Increasing competence in research and development of space technologies in Latvia, a team of Riga Technical University (RTU) students has successfully conducted the first flight test of a stratospheric balloon platform. Several more trials are planned this year, training students to develop technologies that will allow the rocket to reach altitudes of up to 40 km. The team invites other students interested in rocketry and the space industry to join them.
Launching the rocket from a stratospheric balloon allows it to reach much higher altitudes than launching it from the ground due to the lower air resistance, explains Daniels Strankals, the team's chief mechanical engineer.
A team of RTU students and RTU School of Engineering students have already demonstrated their rocket building skills - they were the first in the Baltics to build and launch two high-power rockets, the second rocket reached a height of 1.9 km in a demonstration flight. Now the students have set themselves a more ambitious goal - to develop significantly more sophisticated space technologies and to take part in the European Rocketry Challenge (EuroC), an international competition where teams from major European universities compete, turning the global aviation and space industry's eyes on Latvia.
To ensure that a rocket launches many kilometres from a stratospheric balloon and is as stable as on the ground, it is launched from a special platform once the balloon has reached a certain altitude. The RTU team has developed and tested key systems in the first flight - a multi-purpose platform for future rocket launches and a ground antenna rotator for precise tracking of the platform over long distances. Real-time triangulation of the platform was also implemented to determine its exact location even if the GPS encounters signal interference at an altitude of several kilometres, says Gundars Matīss Melderis, the team's chief software engineer. The students continue to refine the receiving stations and antennas to allow communication and control of the platform throughout the flight. Software and electronics improvements are also being made to the systems, a digital mission control centre is being built for real-time visibility and control of data, the biological research chamber is being tested and verified, and a mechanism is being implemented that will allow the launch platform to detach from the stratospheric balloon at any time, thus aborting the flight if necessary.
In parallel, the student team is developing systems for biological experiments that will allow research to be carried out in microgravity conditions for longer periods of time and at less cost than is currently possible with the available infrastructure on Earth, adds D.Strankals. On the first flight of the stratospheric balloon, the students also tested a pressurised enclosure that can be used for such research. Several more test flights are planned this spring to test and further refine all the systems.
The first flight also included a passenger - LabLabs, the mascot of the RTU Science and Innovation Centre.
More test flights are planned this spring to test and further develop all systems.
For the fourth year in a row, the development of space technologies at RTU has been carried out under the guidance of knowledgeable mentors - rocket designer Andrejs Puķītis and the President of the Latvian Space Industry Association Pauls Irbins - in RTU's «Vertically Integrated Project» (VIP) programme.
Applications for the spring season of VIP 2024 are open until 31 January. Apply.
The aim of the VIP is to enable students from different study programmes and levels to collaborate on a long-term research project, while strengthening and broadening the research activities of the faculty. The student teams are interdisciplinary and vertically integrated, i.e. the students represent different levels of study, ranging from RTU Engineering High School to PhD studies. Teams collect and process data, develop prototypes, are supervised by professors and led by senior students or research assistants. Quality control and assistance in design and prototyping is provided by the RTU Science and Innovation Centre.
The RTU High Power Rocket team also welcomes new participants interested in rocketry and the space industry. Apply.
Students with a range of competences - from electronics, programming and mechanical engineering to marketing, social media communication and sponsor recruitment - can apply to join the team.
