For the first time ever a team of students representing several universities in Belgium has launched a rocket that the students designed themselves. It flew successfully to an altitude of 1.5 kilometres, but the landing did not go quite as planned. Next year, the students hope to launch a new rocket that will reach an altitude of 3 kilometres.
The student team Be-Rocket heaved a sigh of relief last week after the first test flight of their rocket, which they had spent a whole year working on, took place on military land in Elsenborn.
‘We are very happy that the launch went well and that our rocket did not explode,’ says project coordinator and engineering sciences professor Aurélie Bellemans (Brussels Free University - VUB). ‘You only have one chance to test something like this, so it has to go well straight away.’
‘Our rocket is about 2 metres tall and flew on solid fuel to an altitude of 1.5 kilometres. At the same time, we also tested our own launch pad,’ says Prof Bellemans.
‘During the landing, things went a bit wrong because only one of the two parachutes opened. The rocket experienced a hard landing and sustained some damage in the process. But for a first test flight, the launch was definitely a success.’
European rocket competition
The next step for the students is to participate in EuRoC, the European rocket competition for students. The competition requires you to send a rocket into the air to an altitude of 3 or 9 kilometres and to launch an instrument to collect scientific data during the flight.
