Imperial College Space Society

Race2Space 2024 summarised in one picture! 31 hot-fires with 18 teams taking part and over 220kNs total impulse produced. It's great to see the momentum building in UK student propulsion. Really proud of what we have achieved in the last two years. Thanks to everyone that helped make this happen. Airborne Engineering Ltd Buckinghamshire Council Civil Aviation Authority Protolaunch The University of Sheffield UK Space Agency Satellite Applications Catapult Charles Simpson Charlie Muir Faculty of Engineering, University of Sheffield

We are excited to introduce one of our supporters, DoraHacks. As a leading global hackathon organizer and developer incentive platform, DoraHacks is dedicated to fostering space innovation. They actively support research and projects, organize workshops, and connect startups with VCs. Notably, DoraHacks launched the Starship Use Cases Hackathon Round 1 in October 2023. Round 2 is ongoing with a prize pool of $100k, featuring over 20 curated use cases and open challenges leveraging Starship's heavy lift capacity. Additionally, DoraHacks' Space Resources and Exploration Grant has been instrumental in nurturing early-stage projects, including student initiatives and startups. Their Frontier Tech Community Grant supports communities and organizations in organizing hackathons, workshops, meetups, and more. Everyone contributing to the space sector is encouraged to connect with the DoraHacks team to explore potential opportunities for support and collaboration. For more details, visit: 👉 Starship Use Cases Hackathon: https://lnkd.in/ex9UbcgT 👉 Space Resources and Exploration Grant: https://lnkd.in/etzCyh7V 👉 Frontier Tech Community Grant: https://lnkd.in/g8S4GsCf

We are really pleased to announce that Project Kepler, our rocket engine project, has been selected as a recipient of the Space Resources and Exploration Grant from @DoraHacks. We look forward to using this grant in the development of our Turbomachinery and Flow Control units over the upcoming months, as we aim to be the first student rocket engine to harness the gas generator cycle!

A huge congratulations to our Project Kepler team, who completed successful cold flow testing of the Kepler engine earlier this week as part of #race2space with Airborne Engineering Ltd (videos can be found in the comments below!). The team complete 4 separate cold flow tests on the fuel side of the injector, with peak mass flow rates of just under 2.2 kg/s - nominal for the fuel side of this engine. The highlight of the testing came when the chamber and nozzle were removed and slow motion footage of the injector elements could be captured, showing uniform mixing across the injector face (minus one injector element which seemed slightly blocked - investigation underway). The propellant was launched up to 13.5m down range of the test stand, which from a back of the envelope calculation requires a peak pressure drop of around 11 bar, with the average pressure drop measured during the period of peak mass flow being around 5.5 bar. Even with only a cold flow test, the engine produced an average thrust of over 50 N, achieving a thrust to weight ratio greater than 1 for the chamber without the need for combustion! This is testament to how much focus the team have put into making the engine lightweight as they aim for the thrust to weight ratio record for a rocket engine! We are also pleased to report that there were no leaks from the injector head, suggesting that the seals between different injector manifolds performed nominally! Following these successful tests, the team are eagerly preparing for an upcoming cold flow of the LOx side of the engine, as well as working on the Turbomachinery Stack, which should be tested independently of the main Thrust Chamber Assembly early next academic year! Lots of exciting things to come for this project as they work towards a full engine hot fire next year! A huge thanks to our sponsors including Additive Industries, DoraHacks and Onshape, a PTC Technology as well as everyone at Imperial College London who has helped support the project and get us to this point! #space #rocket #rocketengine

We are thrilled to announce that Imperial Planetary Robotics Lab together with Argo Student Robotics Team have qualified again for the European Rover Challenge World Finals! The joint IPRLxArgo team will be once again the only team to represent the UK 🇬🇧. The finals will take place in September in Krakow, Poland, where we will drive our new and improved rover on an artificial Mars Yard! This is a huge achievement for us in just our 2nd year of operations. We have also jumped up 8 places compared to last year's documentation scores! As always, thank you to our supporters, who make it all possible: Accu Onshape, a PTC Technology Valispace @FPV.PL IPRL is a joint project led by the Imperial College Robotics Society in collaboration with the Imperial College Space Society. #robotics #space #studentproject #rover #mars #planetaryexploration

Thrilled to share that Project Svarog has secured a spot in the upcoming Cycle 15 of the BEXUS programme following our presentation at the REXUS/BEXUS selection workshop at ESTEC! We received valuable feedback during the presentation, including both positive insights and considerations about our deployment mechanism. The selection panel has greenlit our experiment with minor tweaks, marking a significant milestone for Project Svarog. This is a huge milestone for the project and will serve as the first stepping stone for future experiments and demonstrations. It will be a great opportunity to show the world our ability to deliver and gain momentum, exposure and credibility. Next on the agenda: the training workshop in Kiruna, Sweden, from the 5th to the 9th of February. During this event, we'll present our Preliminary Design Review, receive valuable training, and engage with experts to refine our project further. Excitement is building for the months ahead! For any inquiries please don’t hesitate to contact Beatriz Soriano Tortosa (Mission Lead: [email protected]) or Piotr Fil (Technical lead: [email protected]).

Baby Rover out in the public! Last week, the Imperial Planetary Robotics Lab, together with the Imperial College Space Society helped at Imperial Lates, allowing members of the public to take control of the Baby Rover! The event aimed to familiarise the public with the wide spectrum of space activities and research that are being carried on at Imperial College London. We created a rover challenge where participants had to drive the Baby Rover around the track just by looking at its camera feed. The winners, who struck the least number of cones took some goodies home as well ;) Congratulations to Imperial and fellow exhibitors for a very successful event! As always, big thank you to our sponsors: Accu Valispace FPV.PL Perfecta Retail Furniture

Last week, the team had the incredible opportunity to present Project Svarog and our high-altitude ballooning experiment at the European Space Agency - ESA Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk! If selected, we will have the chance to take part in the REXUS/BEXUS Project and put our sail deployment mechanism to the test in near vacuum conditions. This journey has been a testament to our dedication, teamwork, and passion for space exploration. We're eagerly awaiting the results and keeping our fingers crossed for the opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge space research! We would also like to thank everyone who made this event possible and provided us with an unforgettable experience at ESTEC. Thank you! German Aerospace Center (DLR), Rymdstyrelsen, European Space Agency - ESA, SSC - Swedish Space Corporation, ZARM, EuroLaunch.

We are extremely happy to share that Project Svarog has been shortlisted to take part on the REXUS/BEXUS project! Part of the team will soon be presenting our project and attending different workshops at the European Space Agency - ESA Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk. The BEXUS projects are funded by a range of different space-related agencies and organisations to enable students to demonstrate and research technology using a high altitude balloon (BEXUS) or a rocket (REXUS). If we make it to the final stage, we will have the chance to test our sail deployment mechanism in near vacuum conditions!   For any inquiries please don’t hesitate to contact Beatriz S. (Project Manager: [email protected]) or Piotr Fil (Technical lead: [email protected] ).

A great achievement by our project Imperial Planetary Robotics Lab! Not only did they exceed their goals, but also won one of the 4 main tasks at the European Rover Challenge in their first year of running the project!