Project Nixus

After a year of development, 2024 marked the highlight of Project Nixus. With a successful launch campaign at EuRoC 2024, WARR is proud to have launched the very first cryogenic bi-liquid rocket in European student rocketry. At 18:44 (UTC+1) on 14 October, the EX-4B was launched, reaching an apogee of 1,678 meters. The competition judges recognized the team’s exceptional performance with three awards: the Team Award, the Payload Award, and the Level 3 Award.

After the scrapped launch campaign in 2023, the team completely reworked the rocket’s design and significantly improved its reliability. However, Project Nixus was not just about launching our first bi-liquid rocket; we also aimed to advance our propulsion capabilities. We have begun investigating an electric pump-fed propulsion system, and developments are already underway. We aim to complete our first pump prototype by early 2025.

Project WESP

In Project WESP, the greatest milestone was successfully participating in the largest student rocketry competition in the world. As WARR Rocketry, we didn’t settle for a typical rocket; instead, we launched Germany’s first student-built two-stage rocket. This project focuses on solid propulsion, which we used as the propellant. In preparation, we successfully conducted a single-stage test launch in Germany. After the competition in the USA, the project transitioned to its next phase. We plan to launch again at IREC in 2025 to significantly reduce the rocket’s weight and achieve greater apogees. Like Project Nixus, Project WESP also has long-term ambitions. We aim to achieve higher velocities and altitudes by deepening our knowledge of solid propulsion and developing our own solid rocket motors.

Project Retrofire

In previous years, controls and landing systems received less attention at WARR Rocketry. However, growing interest from students, the university, and the broader aerospace community inspired us to initiate Project Retrofire. This project focuses on building a hopper vehicle for the Lander Challenge, a global competition for student teams to design a rocket hopper capable of a 50-meter free flight.

So far, the project has passed its MDR (Mission Definition Review) and is now working on finalizing the vehicle design. In parallel, we are developing both a bi-liquid hopper and an electric fan hopper to gain initial insights into the flight dynamics of such systems.

Summary

All in all, we are proud of our accomplishments. We showcased our capabilities at two major competitions, and teams around the world were impressed by our engineering expertise and the dedication of our team members.

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MOVE-II

We are pleased to announce that our MOVE-II satellite has completed another 52 weeks of successful operation in space, marking 2024 as its sixth year in orbit. This long-term performance is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, who continue to maintain and monitor the satellite’s functionality daily. To enhance this ability, our mission control team welcomed six new members, passing on knowledge to the next generation of satellite engineers and ensuring the ongoing health of MOVE-II.

STONCS

Another notable development in our program is STONCS (Student Technology on CubeSat), a PCB designed to test essential subsystems for our upcoming CubeSat MOVE-III. It will test and verify the functionality of In-House developed Sun-Sensors, an IMU, as well as our onboard software in space and provide the opportunity to iterate in the development of our operations ground segment. A partnership with OroraTech enables the opportunity to fly STONCS mounted to the side of one of their upcoming satellites. This opportunity not only expedites the development of MOVE-III but also provides valuable insight into subsystem performance, facilitating more efficient design and integration processes. We express our sincerest gratitude to OroraTech for their ongoing support and collaboration. Their commitment to fostering academic-driven research and innovation has been instrumental to the success of this venture. Once launched, STONCS will become the next WARR hardware to reach orbit, reflecting the dedication and collective effort of the entire WARR MOVE team.

MOVE-UP

In addition to STONCS, our team made significant progress with MOVE-Up, our stratospheric balloon project that reached the edge of the atmosphere. It serves the crucial role of providing a testbed for satellite components in a near-space environment as well as offering the possibility to conduct experiments in the upper atmosphere. The payload, a 2.5kg heavy “golden shoebox” called IGEL, was carried to an altitude of about 30 km before descending with the assistance of a parachute. Among other systems, we tested the performance of our new battery boards and a new COM system, paving the way for future MOVE-Up missions. After landing, the recovery posed quite a challenge: While our recovery team found the gondola in record-breaking time, they were unable to get to it because it had landed in an unusually tall tree. Thankfully, a professional tree climber helped us the following Saturday, getting the gondola down for us. It now resides safely as a trophy in the MOVE Office.

Science Communication

Our commitment to sharing knowledge extends beyond hardware development. Throughout the year, our members have conducted guest lectures at their former schools, illustrating the fundamentals of satellite engineering and inspiring students to explore scientific pursuits. We also collaborate with the BVSR and Max Born Gymnasium to assist students in launching their own stratospheric balloon. These initiatives highlight our dedication
to educational outreach, demonstrating that practical, hands-on experiences can significantly enhance student engagement in STEM fields.

Meeting the Industry

Finally, 2024 presented numerous opportunities for professional growth and networking. Seven of our team members attended a workshop hosted by the European Space Agency (ESA) in the Netherlands, where they acquired valuable insights into advanced mission design and emerging satellite technologies. In addition, our participation in the SpaceTech Expo in Bremen allowed us to establish connections with key stakeholders in the
aerospace sector. These interactions contribute to the continuous evolution of our team’s missions and expertise, ensuring that WARR MOVE remains at the forefront of CubeSat innovation.

Donations

Another highlight is the realization of our own donation platform on betterplace.org. Through this platform, we are raising funds for three test setups based on single-board computers and are delighted to have already received over €400 in donations by generous friends of MOVE.

We look forward to building on these achievements, collaborating with industry partners, and continuing our tradition of pioneering research. The accomplishments of 2024 underscore the dedication of our members and the strength of our community, bringing us ever closer to our goal of advancing scientific knowledge through successful CubeSat missions and educational outreach.

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Gravimeeting Conference

In March we were invited to the Gravimeeting in Erlangen, a yearly conference for German Gravitational Biology supported by the DLR. There we got to present our project ADDONISS, that launched to the ISS in 2023 and was co-funded by the DLR through the “Überflieger 2” competition. It was a great opportunity to scout the latest research developments and talk to experts. There we got the inspiration for our new focus project: D.I.N.O.labs.

New Mission D.I.N.O.labs

Dinoflagellates: Investigation of Noctilucent Organisms (D.I.N.O.labs) aims to analyze the behavior of bioluminescent algae in altered gravity environments, such as those experienced during rocket launches. Bioluminescent algae like Pyrocystis Noctiluca are sensitive to shear forces on their membranes and exhibit a blue light upon mechanical stimulation. This makes them a valuable biomarker for shear forces and offers unique opportunities to study the effects of microgravity and high-gravity phases on biological systems.

D.I.N.O.labs V1 at Spaceport America Cup – Honorable mention
After just three months of development, we achieved our first milestone with our first launch at the Spaceport America Cup. D.I.N.O.labs V1 flew on board WARR Rocketry‘s EX-1E rocket WESP which performed a beautiful two staged launch in the New Mexico desert, USA.
To combat the intense heat we designed a water cooling system that utilized ice water to cool the the payload on the launch pad. Encased in a 3U housing (10x10x30cm^3) weighing 4kg, as per competition regulations, we flew 2 samples of bioluminescent algae. The cooling system successfully maintained a stable environment of 23°C for the algae, protecting them from the harsh launch conditions. However, the system proofed to be rather unwieldy during handling, prompting the development of an updated thermal system for our second launch later in the year in Portugal.
As a highlight of this first chapter of D.I.N.O.labs, we won an honorable mention for “Most Professionally Integrated Payload”, which is a huge tribute to the experience we gathered during the last two years in terms of payload design, construction, and operations.

D.I.N.O.labs V2 at EuRoC – Payload Award
The second launch followed shortly after, taking place in October at EuRoC in Portugal. D.I.N.O.labs V2 was carried aboard WARR Rocketry’s EX-4B rocket, Nixus. Building on the lessons learned from V1, where our cameras failed to capture satisfactory signals during the SAC launch, we upgraded to improved sensors. This allowed us to repurpose the freed space from the cameras and the new air cooling system to accommodate more algae samples.
With this enhancement, the payload carried a total of 8 samples, each trained to be active during different time windows during the day to ensure active samples during the eventual launch. Despite the rocket having to recover with only the drogue parachute because of strong winds on the launch day, the payload survived the touchdown with only a minor battle mark – a small warp in the housing – and was fully functional upon recovery.
Our hard work of the previous months was honored when we were awarded the EuRoC Payload Award. This completed the triple win for WARR, bringing home three EuRoC awards this year: the L3 Flight Award, the Team Award and the Payload Award.

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