MASER Microgravity Missions And Other Sounding Rocket Activities In Sweden
- Paper number
IAC-07-A2.5.04
- Author
Mr. Christian Lockowandt, Swedish Space Corporation, Sweden
- Coauthor
Anne Ytterskog, Swedish Space Corporation, Sweden
- Coauthor
Mr. Gunnar Florin, Swedish Space Corporation, Sweden
- Coauthor
Mr. Jimmy Thorstenson, Swedish Space Corporation, Sweden
- Coauthor
Mr. Per Holm, Swedish Space Corporation, Sweden
- Coauthor
Mr. Bengt Larsson, Swedish Space Corporation, Sweden
- Coauthor
Mr. Kenneth Loeth, Swedish Space Corporation, Sweden
- Coauthor
Dr. Olle Norberg, Swedish Space Corporation, Sweden
- Coauthor
Mr. Stig Kemi, Swedish Space Corporation, Sweden
- Year
2007
- Abstract
Introduction The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) conducts the MASER Microgravity Rocket Programme since 1987, with the purpose of providing flight opportunities to the scientific community for performance of experiments under microgravity conditions. The rockets are launched from the SSC rocket launch base Esrange Space Centre in the northern part of Sweden and the payloads are recovered on land and brought back to the laboratories within 1 hour by helicopter. The total experiment payload mass is 300 kg. The MASER 10 microgravity rocket was launched successfully on March 2 2005 and the next rocket MASER 11 will be launched in March 2008. The customer in both MASER 10 and MASER 11 is the European Space Agency (ESA).
Sounding rocket programs in Sweden The current sounding rocket programs comprehend microgravity research rockets, such as MASER (6-8 min. µg) and MAXUS (12-14 min. µg), scientific sounding rockets for mainly atmospheric research and the educational rocket REXUS. All rockets are launched and operated from Esrange Space Centre.
MASER system The MASER system uses a two stage solid fuel rocket motor. For MASER 10 a Skylark 7 motor was used (last remaining Skylark) but for MASER 11 a new developed motor VSB-30 will be used. The total microgravity time is 6-8 minutes depending on the payload mass. The microgravity level is guaranteed to be below 10-4g but is normally below 10-5g. The service system comprises the recovery and the service module, MASM, which includes the rate control system and the Digital Video System, DVS. It provides necessary support functions for the experiment facilities to perform their experiments during the mission.
MASER 10 and 11 The MASER 10 rocket carried 5 different experiments in four experiment modules. The success rate of the experiment performance during flight was 100
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- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-A2.5.04.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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