Current status: BEXUS5 launched.
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| Follow the launch live with a view over the balloon pad at Esrange(no longer available). http://www.ssc.se/www2/axis/cam01e.html |
Watch the ongoing work with the BEXUS5 payload live from the Deparment of Space Science(no longer available). http://192.10.130.204:8080 |
BEXUS5 launched successfully on the 28:th of March 2007. REXUS4 campaign moved. New official website for future REXUS and BEXUS campaigns: http://www.esa.int/esaED/SEMVN973R8F_index_0.html |
Final website revision 2008-04-16 You are now visiting the official website for the BEXUS5(REXUS4) campaign. Here you will find all information about the campaign in general as well as the student experiments that flew onboard. BEXUS5 was launched successfully at the 28:th of March 2007. REXUS4 was originally scheduled for launch in spring 2007 but has been postponed and moved into the new campaign administration run by ESA, SSC, and DLR. REXUS4/5 will be launched together with BEXUS6/7 in 2008. For more information about future REXUS and BEXUS campaigns, I refer to the new official website above. All information presented at this website is actual from the time when the BEXUS5 campaign was running. /Jörgen Hedin, Student Project Manager. 
 Launch of REXUS III on April the 5:th 2006. Credit: SSC, Esrange. REXUS (Rocket EXperiments for University Students) is represented by a unguided, spin stabilized, solid propellant, single stage, Improved Orion rocket launch vehicle. "M112 Hawk" from military surplus. The rocket accelerates the payload for 26 seconds with peak acceleration during the boost phase of 21g. A payload mass of 100 kg should be carried up to an apogee of approximately 90 - 110 km. The total mass of the rocket will be estimated 512 kg comprising a propellant mass of 290 kg and a payload mass of 96 kg. With a payload length of 2673 mm the complete vehicle measures 5620 mm. Motor and payload diameter is 356 mm (14"). The total motor hardware exists of the rocket motor itself with an exhaust nozzle extension, a boat tail shape tail can, three stabilizing fins and a motor adapter with an integrated separation system to secure safe payload recovery. The vehicle is fixed at the launch rail by two retractable launch lugs. Payload section is build up by standard type cylinder sections containing experiments, service and recovery systems covered by an ejectable nose cone.   Preflight preparation of the BEXUS IV balloon on the 19:th of June 2006. Credit: SSC, Esrange. BEXUS (Balloon EXperiments for University Students) is a unique opportunity for students to design, develop, build and fly their own experiments in subspace conditions with a stratospheric balloon launched from the Esrange Space Center. The balloon has a total volume of 10.000 cubic meters and grows to a diameter of 40 meters when the maximum altitude is reached. It has a capacity to carry about 100kg of payload to an altitude of 30 kilometers. This gives the students a challenging environment to test their experiments in with temperatures as low as -70 degrees celcius and only one percent left of the airpressure at sealevel. Cut down will normally be executed after 4-5 hours after clearance from the experimenters and based on calculations for a safe landing. Flight trajectory calculations before time of launch will indicate if the cut down will be inside Sweden or in Finland. |