Stratos Project

The Stratos project is the most extreme short-term project by DARE. The rocket will travel at almost twice the speed of sound to an altitude in excess of more than 15 kilometres! They are aiming to launch the rocket in March at Esrange in Sweden. The Stratos rocket will consist of two stages. First, there is an expendable drop-off booster which will propel the rocket close to the speed of sound. The booster will de-attach after burnout and the main stage of about 15 kNs will start. After some coast time, the rocket will reach its apogee of about 15 kilometres. A large part of the rocket will not be recovered, but all the valuable data, electronics and payload experiments will be jettonised and safely landed by parachute. The flight computers will also have a wireless data downlink for telemetry, ensuring complete evaluation of the flight, even if the electronics capsule is not found. This project will further develop DARE into a leading student rocketry group in Europe, enlarging their expertise in: logistical operations, supersonic flight, staging, clustering, high altitude operation and composite construction.

The flight of Stratos will mean a big step in a growing desire of  “envelope expansion” within DARE. Ultimately, Stratos will pave the way to even bigger rockets like Phobos and Ares.Follow the development of Stratos step by step by watching our videolog.

More information on the DARE website.