A one-week student rocket course at Andøya Space with collaboration between Norwegian and Canadian universities.
This course is financial supported by the University of Alberta, University of Oslo and Andøya Space Education.
The main delivery by Andøya Space Education is to arrange a one-week student rocket course at Andøya Space. Participants are divided into four sections that have specific responsibilities prior to the rocket launch, more closely explained below. Taken together, these sections go through all the same preparations as happens before a large-scale sounding rocket campaign. Throughout the week, participants will also decide and analyze scientific cases, and present their results on the final day.
During the launch critical parts of the campaign, participants will be assisted by professionals from Andøya Space. Before attending, participants are encouraged to have a look at the student rocket pre-study.
- Payload section: Make sensor cards, make custom cables in the rocket, and install all sensors in the rocket. Prepare the rocket itself before launch, and test it, in collaboration with the telemetry, sensor and flight modelling sections.
- Telemetry section: Setting up all the telemetry equipment and decoders and testing this, toghether with the payload, prior to launch. Responsible for setting up and running a live-view of the sensor data for the investigator team and flight modelling section, as well as capturing and recording the rocket data during the rocket operation.
- Flight modelling section: Make two digital sensor cards, and assist the investigator team and the student team as a whole with simplified flight modelling, aiming to provide input to proposed scientific cases or new ideas for phenomena to investigate.
- Sensor Experiment section: Make several different sensor boards and discuss with the payload section where to place the specific sensors in the rocket. Develop sensor digital-to-analogue conversion equations and hand them over to the telemetry section for use in the decoder setup. The sensor experiment section also builds two PTU sensor packages and release them with two weather balloons prior to the rocket launch, whereupon they analyse and present the weather balloon data.
Overall learning outcomes:
- A better understanding of scientific rocket campaigns based on first-hand experience
- Sharpened collaborative skills and valuable experience in scientific project collaboration
More specifically, you will gain a better understanding of
- preparations and processes related to a rocket launch
- the phases of a sounding rocket project: defining scientific objectives, building sensors, payload integration and testing, telemetry, data analysis, and presentation of findings
- the use of rockets, balloons and ground-based instruments for studying processes in the atmosphere
University Students
