A Feng Chia University research team yesterday successfully launched their second scientific research rocket, SHSR-Aero2, from a site in Pingtung County’s Syuhai Village (旭海).
SHSR-Aero2 is a single-stage hybrid rocket with an average thrust of 1,250 newtons, a burn time of 12 seconds and a total impulse of 15,000 newton-seconds.
The rocket had a flight time of 75 seconds and reached its maximum altitude of 6.4km, accomplishing the test goals.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Space Agency
The university’s Department of Aerospace and Systems Engineering graduate student Wu Po-chin (吳柏縉), who took part in the design of the rocket propulsion system, said the biggest challenge was the system transition.
The team replaced gaseous oxidizer with liquid to amplify the thrust, and spent a lot of time optimizing the shape, aperture size and number of apertures of the oxidizer injector, he said.
The university has been implementing the Taiwan Space Agency’s program to develop small scientific research rockets since February 2022, said Yeh Chun-liang (葉俊良), a professor at the university’s Department of Aerospace and Systems Engineering and the rocket project’s principal researcher.
The rocket should have launched on Sunday, but the launch was called off due to improper installation of the detonator and extremely low power for the control panel, he said.
After some adjustments, the rocket was successfully launched yesterday, Yeh said.
The team researches hybrid-propellant rocket engine, rocket structure, sensor, electrical control and telemetry systems, and has obtained plenty of flight test data from last year’s launch of SHSR-Aero, the thrust of which was one-third that of SHSR-Aero2, he said.
With the addition of more advanced operation and control systems, and the multifunction sensor module developed by the team, SHSR-Aero2 performed much better than last year’s SHSR-Aero, he added.
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