WARR (TUM)

WARR (German: Wissenschaftliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Raketentechnik und Raumfahrt, English: Scientific Workgroup for Rocketry and Space Flight) is a student group at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Founded in 1962 by Robert Schmucker, its initial objective was to compensate for TUM’s lack of an institute astronautics. In 1966, the university established such an institute, allowing WARR to focus on the practical aspects of space flight, as opposed to the theoretical. Today, the objective of the student group is to enable students from various fields of study to apply their theoretical knowledge and gain practical experience. One of WARR’s greatest achievements to date is the construction and launch of the first German hybrid rocket called Barbarella, on 12 March 1974, which is now displayed in the German Museum in Munich.

History

1962 Founding of WARR by Robert Schmucker
1966–1974 Research on engines for hybrid rockets
1974 First flight of Barbarella (first German hybrid rocket, displayed in German Museum)
since 1975 Research on engines for liquid-propellant rockets
1985 Scientific payload OTUMAS on a sounding rocket
1985 Studies on an own sounding rocket called HARRY-1
2000 Construction of a hybrid demonstrator engine
2002 Occupation of the new space in Garching and establishing a dynamometer
2004 Presentation of projects at ILA in Berlin, Germany
since 2005 Scientific payload T-Rex on the Swedish sounding rocket Rexus in cooperation with the chair for space travel and the EADS Astrium GmbH.
Work on the following projects: space elevator, cubesat (mini satellite) and Micro-Hybrid (miniature hybrid engine)
2006 First WARR Winter Launch (WWL, model rocket contest) and presentation of the project at the ILA in Berlin, Germany
2009 Founding of WARR Interstellar Flight Team [1]
2011 Organization and participation in the first European Space Elevator Challenge (EUSPEC) on the grounds of TU Munich[2]
2012 Contribution to IdeenPark in Essen, Germany [3]
2012 Participation in SpaceUp conference in Stuttgart, Germany[4]
2012 Founding of a project group for satellite technology, and the initiation of work on Cubesat MOVE-II financed by German Aerospace Center[5]
2013 Founding of the project group STERN, aiming to break the student record for rocket altitude in Europe[6]
2013 Founding of the project group "WARR Space Manufacturing" for research on 3D printing in microgravity[7]
2013 Launch of the student satellite First-MOVE into a polar orbit[8]
2013 The project group ‘’Interstellar Space Flight’’ wins the international Icarus Design Competition for unmanned interstellar space probes with fusion engines
2015 Launch of the experimental rocket WARR-Ex2 from CLBI in Brazil[9]
2015 The project group ’’Interstellar Space Flight’’ wins the international Dragonfly Design Competition for unmanned interstellar space probes with laser sail engines[10]
2015 Founding of WARR Hyperloop and the development of a prototype for a Hyperloop capsule for the SpaceX Hyperloop pod competition[11]

Project groups of WARR

Rocketry

WARR-Ex2 mounted to the launch rail

Existing since the foundation of WARR in 1962, the department for rocketry is the oldest project group of WARR. With the launch of the first German hybrid rocket in 1974, WARR achieved its first major success, which was promptly followed by the construction of multiple test engines. In 2009 the development of its next rocket began, called WARR-Ex2, powered by the in-house developed hybrid engine HYPER-1 with solid HTPB fuel and nitrous oxide as oxidizer. The rocket was successfully launched on 20th of May 2015 from the missile base CLBI on the Atlantic coast of Brazil and reached a maximal altitude of approximately 5 km.[9] Even before the launch of WARR-Ex2, WARR had begun working on its successor, WARR-Ex3, as part of project STERN[12] (STudentische Experimental-RaketeN) (German abbreviation for “student experimental rocketry”), organized and financed by the German Aerospace Center. As the given objectives of STERN were already reached within WARR-Ex2, it was decided to build a larger rocket, which should break the European altitude record for student rockets, counting 21.5 km for now. To reach this goal, the WARR-Ex 3 will use liquid oxygen instead of nitrous oxide, while maintaining the use of HTPB. The launch of WARR-Ex3 is currently planned for the beginning of 2017.[6]

Satellite Technology

Rendering des Satellitenbus von MOVE-II

Since the cubesat First-MOVE was primarily developed by doctoral candidates from the institute of astronautics at the TUM, the involvement of students was intensified during the development of its successor MOVE-II. To make use of WARR’s existing infrastructure, a new project group was founded, where the members could work on all subsystems. In 2012, development of a mission profile was started. After approval by the German Aerospace Center in 2015, launch of the satellite is expected in 2017.[5]

MOVE-II is a 10x10x20 cm big satellite (2U-Cubesat). It consists of a bus on the one side, which is responsible for power supply, communication and attitude control, and a scientific payload on the other side. This is going to be a particle detector for antiprotons developed by the Department of Physics at TUM.

Space-Elevator

WARR Space-Elevator is developing climber robots since its founding in 2006, and also organizes corresponding competitions. The first climber was developed for the JSETEC2009 competition and reached the targeted 150 m in the shortest time.[13] In 2011 the European Space Elevator Challenge (EUSPEC) was established, which also focused on energy efficiency.[14] Following that year the competition was repeated with increased cable length of 50 m.[15]

Interstellar Flight

Rendering of the Dragonfly-Probe: This concept won the Project Dragonfly Design Competition

The WARR Interstellar Flight Team (ISF) is working on concepts for interstellar travel.[16] The goals of WARR ISF are:

In May 2013 the “Ghost Team” of WARR ISF participated in Project Icarus.[17] The name “Ghost” derives from the sudden appearance of the team in the competition and resulting in confusion of the other participants. WARR presented its concept at the British Interplanetary Society in October 2013 and was awarded for the best design among 4 internation teams.[17]

In October 2014 begun development of a laser propelled interstellar probe for the Project Dragonfly Design Competition, held by the Initiative for Interstellar Studies (I4IS). The WARR team could prevail in this competition against international competitors, too.[17]

Hyperloop

In August 2015 the project group Hyperloop was founded to participate in the Hyperloop Pod Competition held by SpaceX. In January 2016, WARR’s was one of 30 international teams selected (from a pool of over 700 initially participating[18]) to build a functional prototype for the final phase of the competition in summer of 2016.[11]

The prototype developed by WARR will feature an electrodynamic suspension system to levitate and an axial compressor to minimize aerodynamic drag from the residual air inside the tube.[19][source needs translation]

External links

References

  1. "WARR Interstellar Space Flight". WARR. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
  2. "Projekte 2011". Klaus Höchstetter Stiftung. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
  3. Pascal Hesse (2012-08-14). "Mit dem Aufzug ins Weltall beim Ideenpark in der Messe Essen". Der Westen. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
  4. AerospaceResearch.net (2013-01-29). "spaceup stuttgart 2012 20min talk michael deiml warr and their current projects". AerospaceResearch.net. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  5. 1 2 WARR (2013-01-29). "WARR Satellitentechnik". WARR. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  6. 1 2 "Raketentechnik - Projekt Cryosphere". WARR. 2013-06-04. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  7. "Raketentechnik - Projekt Cryosphere". WARR. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
  8. "Zwei bayerische Uni-Satelliten im Weltall". Heise. 2013-11-21. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
  9. 1 2 "Facebook-Page on the Launch of WARR-Ex 2". WARR. 2015-06-04. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  10. "Small Interstellar Probes, Riding Laser Beams – The Project Dragonfly Design Competition Workshop". Centauri Dreams. 2015-07-17. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  11. 1 2 "Elon Musk lässt das Rohrpost-Reisen testen". Zeit Online. 2016-02-18. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  12. "STERN: Das Raketen-Programm für Studenten". DLR. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  13. "Results from Asia's first ever Space Elevator Competition" (PDF; 184 kB). Japan Space Elevator Association. 2009-08-13. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
  14. "EuroSpaceward announces EuSEC - the first European Space Elevator Challenge!". The Space Elevator Blog. 2010-10-21. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
  15. "Die Europäische Space Elevator Challenge geht in die zweite Runde". ESA. 2012-09-14. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
  16. "Interstellar Space Flight - Project Icarus". WARR. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
  17. 1 2 3 "Das Team WARR Ghost". WARR. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
  18. "Tweet". SpaceX. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  19. "Zukunft des Reisens? Wie Münchner Studenten den Hyperloop bauen". The Huffington Post. 2016-02-03. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
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