The National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) yesterday launched a domestically engineered sounding rocket from a rocket research launch site in Pingtung County’s Syuhai Village (旭海), the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) said.
Named the “Asfaloth Launch-2,” the project involved an Asfaloth sounding rocket developed by NYCU’s Aerospace Systems and Aerodynamics Research (ASARe) Lab, TASA said in a news release.
A sounding rocket is a suborbital rocket that carries scientific instruments to study the upper atmosphere and space for a short flight.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Space Agency
TASA said it oversaw the project, adding that the project was spearheaded by NYCU’s ASARe, Advanced Rocket Research Center, Micro-electro-mechanical Systems Servo Control Laboratory (MSCL), and the Aerospace Communication and Electromagnetic Sensing Laboratory.
ASARe was responsible for the integration of the rocket system and the design of the launch system, while the center provided the primary engine for the first stage, the Serpent Eagle Hybrid Rocket Engine, and MSCL supplied the avionics system.
The rocket took off from the launch site at 6:32am using a mobile TASA launch platform.
Assistant professor Tan Zu Pua-yen (陳竺博淵), who leads the university’s ASARe team, said that the 6.2-meter-long rocket hit its maximum altitude in 26 seconds at a height of 2.8km.
The purpose of the launch was to verify the integrity of the Asfaloth rocket, the ASARe team said, adding that it was also to simulate the accuracy of a launch, test out the onboard electronics of the rocket, the effectiveness of its landing mechanism and the redundancy of its data transmission capacity.
It was the second Asfaloth rocket the university launched, following the first launch on July 21 last year. The first Asfaloth launch also took place at the same site, TASA said, adding that yesterday’s blastoff marked the 10th rocket launch from the location since its opening in 2022.
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