“Go” for the rocket launch: Andreas Kimpe receives data during
the flight at DLR’s telemetry station.
A rough landing: the payload was found on the marshy
ground and cleaned. Fortunately, most of the data survived
the impact.
bumps at the thought. “It was extraordinarily complex, yet
worked so perfectly.” The experiment had risen into the skies
with its sharp-angled tip one year before. “Moments like that
make working at MORABA worthwhile.” Missions under the
midnight Sun or during the deep icy winter, months of prepara-
tion for Antarctic rocket launches or even birthdays spent with
MORABA colleagues instead of back home with the family –
field missions leave a mark. The rest of the time, the team works
at DLR Oberpfaffenhofen – with the exception of the rocket
motors, all flight systems, ground support systems and telemetry
stations are developed there. “The development side of things
has grown significantly,” Turner emphasises. “Sometimes we
are able to use components from our ‘toolbox’, but we frequently
develop and qualify new systems for upcoming missions.” This
combination makes MORABA the only one of its kind in Europe,
with clients that include DLR, the DLR Space Administration, as
well as international space agencies and universities.
The tension rises behind thick protective walls
The alarm clock rings in the middle of the night of 15 July
2013 – the countdown will commence at 03:30. The test run
was successful; the weather forecast for the morning hours is
favourable. Alexander Kallenbach sends the first weather
balloon up in the dark. Frank Scheuerpflug, responsible for
flight control, sits at the console in the main building on the
range. Frank Hassenpflug, Thomas Jahnke and Andreas Kimpe
are seated in the mobile telemetry station. The rocket will be
tracked along its flight path from here. “Take-off certainly sets
your heart racing,” says Andreas Kimpe. Markus Pinzer and Nils
Höger sit behind thick protective walls in the control room that
is located in the blockhouse, close to the launch ramp. Roughly
two hours prior to take-off, only Wolfgang Jung, Johann Pfänder,
Marcus Hörschgen-Eggers, Tobias Ruhe and Jürgen Knof will
leave this protected space; they will prepare the igniters on the
launch ramp for take-off. Large numbers on the screens count
down the seconds to lift-off. The launch ramp now stands tall,
pointing to the sky. At 07:00 the lines to the igniters are acti-
vated. The heavy steel doors are shut 15 minutes later. Take-off
is tantalisingly close; the furnaces in the payload section now
begin to heat the specimens at up to 900 degrees Celsius, to
melt them completely. The final 10 minutes are here.
The air folds in on itself in the control room. Wind mea
surements could still put paid to the whole enterprise. A staccato
“Go!” comes from the loudspeaker. Every station signals a green
light. 10, 9, 8… The Swedish colleague lets his finger hang
heavy over the launch button. He must keep it pressed for five
long seconds for the computer system to trigger ignition. 3, 2,
1. A bass rumble swirls up from outside, rolling in on the building
and the control room. 07:53 and MAPHEUS-4 has lifted off. But
nobody speaks.
Everyone is crowded around the screen displaying the
images from the camera in the recovery system. The rocket
motor must first burn out, the payload stabilise in flight and
then, suspended from its parachute, land safely – only then can
they celebrate. The rocket motor slowly falls back above the
blue planet while the payload continues to ascend into the sky.
The experiment will be subjected to roughly four minutes of
microgravity. “Told you!” Spellbound, all eyes are on the film.
“What’s that?” Tobias Ruhe stares at the camera images, horri-
fied. “Damn it, the parachute is opening too soon…” But it
doesn’t open too soon – it actually doesn’t open at all, it rips.
The main parachute will thus no longer unfold. A single strap
dangles back and forth in front of the camera lens. “Did the
thermal shield open too early?” “What altitude are we at?” All
of this is interspersed with the sound of Tobias Ruhe and Marcus
Hörschgen-Eggers cursing under their breath. They all know by
now that the sections containing the experiments will touch
down at almost full speed. An appalled silence has replaced the
joy of a successful launch. At this moment, it is not at all clear
whether the mission will be successful at all. In the worst-case
scenario, the payload will shatter on impact.
A rough landing in the marsh
The recovery helicopter sets off a short time later with
members of MORABA and scientists. The data received has
revealed the precise location of the since-landed payload. For
half an hour they fly over trees, lichen, rocks and lakes before
catching sight of the shimmering blue microgravity research
rocket, impacted lengthwise in the soft morass of the marshy
ground and shattered to pieces, now buried in the soil. Per-
plexed, Jörg Drescher and Christian Neumann from the team
of scientists gaze at the remains of their experiment. Did the
memory cards with the crucial images withstand impact? Or has
all the data been lost? One by one, the team drags the dirt-en-
crusted pieces to the helicopter. On the way back, they see the
orange rocket motor underneath the helicopter with its fins
sticking out of the marsh. The burnt-out rocket has rammed
itself into the ground almost vertically.
Esrange comes into view after just over half an hour in
the air. The rest of the MORABA team is gathered at the heli-
copter-landing site. It takes five minutes to unload all of the
pieces and drive them to the launcher hall. Cordless screwdrivers
start to whir, and the pounding of hammers echoes through
the room. A constant flow of clumps of earth falls from the
experiments. Tobias Ruhe, Marcus Hörschgen-Eggers and Jürgen
Knof take a look at the module with the failed recovery system.
Screwdriver in hand, Florian Kargl is busy with a module one
table down. “The camera is fine,” he calls. Packed on three
tables, everything that survived the rough fall is taken to pieces,
one bit at a time. Although everyone has been up and about
since 03:30, a break is completely out of the question. A few
hours later, it is known that the vast majority of data has been
recovered. Florian Kargl comes into the hall carrying his laptop,
two pictures of the X-ray tubes visible on the screen. “Perfect
images,” he calls. “What more could you ask for? Great!”
Finally the tension subsides. Science worked, and the data is
available for analysis.
“We’ll have to go back to the drawing board with the
recovery system,” says Tobias Ruhe, finally able to smile again. It
appears that the heat around the rocket was so high that the
thermal shield opened prematurely. A detailed analysis will be
conducted at the Oberpfaffenhofen site. The recovery system
for missions such as MAPHEUS will have to be replaced with a
more powerful one. “We build prototypes,” says Scheuerpflug.
It is never routine.
•
More information:
MAPHEUS-4 LAUNCH
|
DLR
ma
G
azıne
138
·
139
|
39
38
|
DLR
ma
G
azıne
138
·
139
|
MAPHEUS-4 LAUNCH
