Hydrocarbon Seeded ABS - Nitrous Hybrid Engine Development: Experimental Validation of an Analytical Design Tool

After the breakup of the Stratos III vehicle, inertial roll coupling was pinpointed to be the root cause. In order to battle the problem a propulsive roll control system was suggested to keep the roll rate under acceptable bounds. A restartable hybrid rocket engine using nitrous oxide and ABS plastic was proposed. 27 tests have been performed of...

Reusable Rocket Upper Stage: Development of a Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation Tool to Determine the Feasibility of Upper Stage Reusability

Reusable rocket stages is a trend in launch vehicles that have been observed for some time now. Even reusable upper stages have been seen in the Space Shuttle, Kistler K-1 and now the SpaceX Starship. This thesis is on the development of a genetic optimisation algorithm to determine the economic feasibility of upper stage reusability. Genetic...

Cryogenic propellant tank pressurization

To launch a rocket to the edge of space using a pressure fed rocket system with liquid oxygen as propellant, you need to know exactly how much pressurant gas (helium) you need to take along. In this thesis a practical investigation on cryogenic tank pressurization is conducted together with DARE. The measurement results are used to validate...

The stratos rocket: Design, simulation and production of a record breaking rocket

On March 17, 2009, a rocket named Stratos was launched, by Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering, or DARE in short. The purpose of this rocket was to break the European altitude record for amateur rockets which was 10.7 km at that time. A design of a small sounding rocket, such as Stratos, is a good example of an interdisciplinary challenge. An...