Bram Koops

Delft University of Technology | TU

The primary objective of the Supersonic Parachute Experiment Aboard REXUS (SPEAR) was to fly and collect in-flight data of a Hemisflo ribbon parachute at supersonic conditions. In November 2022, the SPEAR vehicle was successfully launched on top of the REXUS 28 sounding rocket from Esrange in Sweden. Shortly after the REXUS 28 apogee at 96 km, the...

The Large Envelope Advanced Parachute System (LEAPS) is developed as a means of recovering the flight data to prove that a student-built sounding rocket, Stratos IV, has reached space. Several design modifications are outlined in this work. The drogue parachute is deployed using a hot gas deployment system to save mass and volume and to increase re...

The paper discusses the lessons learnt during the SPEAR mission that takes part in the 12th cycle of the Rocket EXperiment for University Students (REXUS) sounding rocket programme. The mission originated after Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering (DARE) designed a supersonic-capable drogue parachute and was unable to test it supersonically on the ex...

In the previous years, the Parachute Research Group (PRG) of Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering (DARE) has been relying mainly on cruciform, ribbon, or disk-gap-band parachutes for the retrieval of its capsules and smaller sounding rockets. However, heading towards a more sustainable future, with the prospect of full rocket recovery and reusability...

Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering, DARE, is a society with the goal of reaching space with a student-built sounding rocket. The latest iteration, Stratos IV, is designed with this goal in mind. To prove Stratos IV reached space, the flight data needs to be safely retrieved. The Parachute Research Group (PRG) of DARE developed the Large Envelope Ad...

The Supersonic Parachute Experiment Aboard REXUS (SPEAR) is an experiment flown on the REXUS28 sounding rocket as part of the REXUS/BEXUS program. The REXUS cycle lasts 1.5 years, giving the mission a strict timeline. The SPEAR mission aims to test the behaviour of the in-house developed Hemisflo ribbon drogue parachute at supersonic conditions. To...

The Large Envelope Advanced Parachute System (LEAPS) of Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering is a flexible parachute recovery system developed for several flagship missions. These flagship missions have masses varying from 10 to 40 kg and apogees varying from 10 to 120 km. The flagship missions considered for LEAPS are: project Aether, Stratos III, a...

Besides recovering a rocket for just the flight data, one can opt to recover the entire rocket, including the tank and engine. This can be done for public relation reasons, but also with full rocket reusability in mind. This article describes three concepts using parachutes to recover a sounding rocket in its entirety. As a reference design, a Stra...