Sounding Rocket "HEROS" - A Low-Cost Hybrid Rocket Technology Demonstrator

Abstract

The inherent safety of hybrid rocket propulsion offers some unique advantages com- pared to solid and liquid propellant rocket engines. This makes it especially attractive for space tourism, Micro-launcher and hands-on experiments in the education of students. On November 8th, 2016 at 10:30 a.m. the hybrid sounding rocket HEROS 3 was launched from the ESRANGE Space Center to an apogee altitude of 32,300m (106,000 ft). This set a new altitude record for European student and amateur rocketry and a world altitude record for hybrid rockets built by students. The 7.5m long rocket was using Nitrous Oxide (N2O) and a Paraffin-based fuel to produce 10,000N of thrust. The dry mass of the rocket was only 75 kg thanks to a carbon fibre structure for the most part. The rocket performed the record breaking flight at perfect weather and visibility conditions, reaching a maximum airspeed of 720 m/s and Mach 2.3. The rocket performed a soft landing with two parachutes and can be reused. Flight data and engine performance data are published and analyzed. The flight data shows excellent stability of the rocket. Engine performance data proves very high efficiency and stable combustion as in the ground tests. The subsystem design and verification before the launch is reported. Engine and flight trajectory simulations show very good agreements with the flight data. Furthermore, the overall project, the rocket design, the subsystems as well as the launch campaign are presented here in detail.