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Copenhagen Suborbitals Nexø II mission

Streetwind

By Streetwind
in Science & Spaceflight

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Streetwind

Streetwind

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In case you've been living under a rock and/or only recently found your way into the space community and have never heard of this outfit from Denmark, you should really pay attention, because these guys are still the world's only amateur crewed space programme. Literally a bunch of guys building rockets in a shed in their free time, funded by themselves and donations, with the end goal of shooting a human over the Karman line and return him/her safely to Earth.

And they have a test launch upcoming, so I thought I'd get a thread started :)

 

Nexø II, just like its somewhat ill-fated predecessor, is a technology demonstration mission. It aims to test all those dozens upon dozens of self-designed, self-soldered, self-built, self-programmed pieces of technology that go into making a larger rocket fly and recover properly. Active guidance, telemetry and sensor suites, thrust vectoring, soft landing under parachutes, the works.

It uses the same, self-built BPM-5 liquid bipropellant engine as its predecessor. It has been uprated from 5 to nearly 6 kN of thrust, which allows the rocket to be larger and heavier, as seen in the second image.

Nexø I flew last year, but it didn't go very high; a mistake made during propellant loading caused a chain of unexpected edge cases that resulted in the computer making the wrong decisions about fuel/oxidizer ratio. The engine ran at too low thrust from the start, and shut down at only two or three kilometers high. The wreck was fully recovered, and many lessons learned went into building Nexø II.

 

The launch is currently scheduled for September 9th or 10th, from CopSub's own floating launch platform, in the baltic sea. More information can be had on their website, as well as their very active twitter account. They also have a youtube account full of videos, including a 1-hour documentary about last year's launch.

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kerbiloid

kerbiloid

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If nothing gets wrong.

Quote

Madsen was already well known in Denmark as an entrepreneur and aerospace engineer, as well as for his submarines. He founded the association Copenhagen Suborbitals, with the goal of sending a person into space in a home-built rocket, and wrote a blog under the nickname ‘Rocket Madsen’.

 

Edited by kerbiloid
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Streetwind

Streetwind

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9 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

Also, would anyone know how high they are planning to get this one?

According to their press release, up to about 15 kilometers; though they stress that they are intentionally not trying to push altitude. Nothing they're testing actually requires going high up.

 

2 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

If nothing gets wrong.

Aside from the fact that It's an ongoing investigation with no final result, you also have to keep in mind that amateur outfits like CopSub are made up of individual people, living individual lives, making individual decisions. Should one of them decide to make a wrong decision, that really doesn't reflect on the group as a whole.

But let's not instantly derail the thread the moment it is posted with things that have nothing at all to do with science and spaceflight, mm'kay? Most of us are here for rocket launches, not police investigations. You could make a new thread in The Lounge about it though, if you like.

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Streetwind

Streetwind

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Preparing for a dress rehearsal:

Imagine you're a minimum wage gas statio employee, and some dudes pull up with a seven meter rocket on a trailer and ask you if they can get some helium.

...Now imagine this probably is not the first time this has happened :D

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wumpus

wumpus

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On 9/14/2017 at 0:14 PM, tater said:

I'm sure they could shoot it off at White Sands, the "spaceport" here is desperate for suborbital clients.

Ask them to launch LOHAN.
https://www.theregister.co.uk/science/lohan/
(LOHAN was last seen delayed by paperwork to launch in a New Mexican Spaceport.  No idea how that is related to White Sands, but I thought it is close).
 

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tater

tater

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The whole idea of a "spaceport" not next to an ocean is frankly absurd to me, so I've was never a fan of my tax money being spent that way by Governor Richardson. 

Seems like a balloon system while idea for NM (we're all about balloons here) on one level is hard to get permission for, since ensuring any failures remain on the range would be the principal issue, I imagine.

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tater

tater

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Because the post above said that they cannot clear air traffic control for months, for a single tiny rocket. Months? I could see them losing the day they want and having to go the next day, but no late September, so try again in 2018?

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_Augustus_

_Augustus_

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On 9/14/2017 at 0:14 PM, tater said:

I'm sure they could shoot it off at White Sands, the "spaceport" here is desperate for suborbital clients.

ITAR

On 9/14/2017 at 5:01 AM, totalitor said:

"We’ve just received notification from the swedish air traffic control, that they will not be able to clear the airspace above our launch area on the 23rd-24th of september. This was our last launch possibility this autumn. So no launch in 2017."

 

Isn't it launched from a barge? Couldn't they just put the barge somewhere else and launch there?

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rudi1291

rudi1291

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20 minutes ago, _Augustus_ said:

Isn't it launched from a barge? Couldn't they just put the barge somewhere else and launch there?

They launch from the southern part of the baltic sea. Lots of waterways there. They cant really move that far without getting in the way of bigger ships.

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Steel

Steel

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14 minutes ago, WildLynx said:

It's how it probably works:

Amateurs -> ATC : Can we have please a safe launch window next week?

ATC-> Aircraft transport companies : Could you bump / cancel a few flights so Amateurs can launch their rocket?

Aircraft transport companies -> ATC : No, no, it's millions of dollars, here, have those few thousands $$$ as gift.

ATC->Amateurs: No, you cannot launch your rocket next week, next month or whatever!!!

 

Amateurs need to "befriend" few politicians to push a law that gives Amateurs right to demand a launch window few times a year.

 

You are implying that ATC and air transport companies are involved in widespread bribery and corruption, so I'd be slightly careful :P

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Shpaget

Shpaget

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4 hours ago, WildLynx said:

It's how it probably works:

-snip-

No, that is not how ATC works. ATC doesn't ask private companies much. It just tells them that certain part of the airspace is going to be closed during a certain period.

Whether ATC decides to grant a permission to launch depends on the traffic conditions expected in the area in question around the time in question, and the available personnel. If ATC is able to organize that traffic in such a way as to accommodate a launch, they will. They gain nothing by not giving the go ahead, except avoiding a certain extra bit of workload, which is usually not a problem if the requested time slot is not already chock full.

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insert_name

insert_name

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4 hours ago, WildLynx said:

ATC is directly interested in every IFR flight, because they pay ATC for advising them how to not bump into each other. :D "Gifts" may be involved too.:sticktongue:

Actually it's what happens when you don't have history of rocket tests and designated test zones.

On wider view, I think, that any planetary civilization, that don't developed rocketry in pre-ATC times would never launch anything to space, because reserving a window and range would cost more than amateur rocket company can afford. So they would be planet-locked.

Um no, you don't have to pay to file an ifr flight plan and a tfr would just divert flights not cancel or postpone them

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