RAVEN
RAVEN is a student project at the Kiruna Campus of Luleå University of Technology. The project started in 2020 as a largely theoretical project of designing parts of a rocket. Today the goal is to design, build and launch a hybrid rocket using paraffin wax as fuel and liquid nitrous oxide as oxidizer. In this process, students will develop understanding and get hands-on experience working with rockets and all its sub-systems.
Currently Raven is a team of 23 people, split into 4 teams.
- Propulsion: designing and maintaining the engine hardware.
- Electronics: our wizards are responsible for data acquisition and control of the rocket and test bench
- Software: Closely tied to electronics, making their ideas come to life
- Testing: Defining and organizing the tests and their objectives
The group answered the questions collectively.
What is it like working on a project that has had multiple generations of students working on it prior?
Very exciting but also very challenging. Documenting the knowledge and work done by students is detrimental. Since many of the students are only in Kiruna for one to two years, we must do our best to document everything we do and transfer that knowledge to new students in a short time. If this is done well (which I would say we do) it is very interesting to read through the other peoples’ work and thought processes.
Many students tend to work on it during their entire stay, why?
Working on a rocket engine is very exciting and the students coming to Kiruna are very passionate about everything space. It also takes a while for everyone to get up to speed, learn the system and understand what is going on. And once you joined a project like ours, you just do not leave, it is too much fun! In addition, international students are here only from September to May, so they try to get as much out of that time as possible. The Swedish students have more time in Kiruna and tend to join the projects later during their stay, but many are still part of the projects outside of the project course.
What is it like cooperating with students from different cultural and educational backgrounds?
Many other student projects at other universities have students from many different departments working together, each in their preferred field. In Kiruna, we are all studying more or less the same. However, since we have people coming from many different backgrounds (aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, physics just to name a few) everybody has something they can contribute and teach others. The cultural differences give us a wide mix of different people, viewpoints, and experiences.
From an educational perspective, how much do you learn working on the project?
A ton. With people coming here from many different backgrounds, there is a lot to learn from other students already. Getting the hands-on experience, trying out different things and talking to industrial professionals is in some regards more valuable than many lectures. We had very good experiences with companies supporting us (Swagelok sponsored most of our piping system, AirLiquide is supplying us with the nitrous oxide, RS can supply almost everything and IRF produced many custom parts) and with Esrange close by we had help and got a lot of advice from Isar Aerospace and of course SSC.
What have you been working on recently?
We are working hard towards a so-called hot flow test. Our testing campaign can be split into three very important steps: the igniter, the oxidizer supply to the engine and the whole package. We completed multiple igniter tests from February to April and are expecting to complete a cold flow test any day now. Here we test our piping system by connecting our oxidizer to the engine and doing a full duration test (4 to 6 sec), where the oxidizer flows through the engine, without igniting it. During the hot flow test, we will also ignite the fuel-oxidizer-mixture and do a static fire (static, since the engine is bolted to the ground and should not move). We basically test the engine in its full and can hopefully answer many questions we have right now. What performance do we get out of the engine? Can our igniters ignite the fuel? Does our fuel burn evenly? And many, many more…
How many credits is the project course (difference between international and national students?)
For international students we have the opportunity to get credits for two quarters (one in period 4 and one in 5 or 6). It is one of our two courses in those quarters, and we get 7.5 cr per quarter (so a total of 15). For Swedish students the project courses are mandatory. It is split over 4 periods, with 7.5 cr per 2 periods, also a total of 15 cr.
Follow the students’ progress on social media!
A day for a RAVEN
What is it like building, testing, and successfully attempting a monumental hot fire test for a rocket? Get a glimpse into the daily lives of the students of the RAVEN project at Kiruna Space Campus.
RAVEN, short for Rocketry and Aerospace Vehicle Engineering in Norrbotten, is one of the student projects at Kiruna Space Campus and the first rocket engine project at Luleå University of Technology. It is a project which started 2020 and has been worked on by many different generations of master students with different cultural as well as educational backgrounds. The goal for the project is to design, build and launch a hybrid rocket using paraffin wax as fuel and liquid nitrous oxide as oxidiser.
On the second floor at Kiruna Space Campus, from one of the workshops you can hear diligent students talking and working. Someone is adjusting a bolt with a spanner – another one is comparing wrenches and looking at the rocket engine tucked in a corner. Since February they have been busy with testing everything related to the rocket engine as they will shortly move the engine outside to test it for real for the first time.
“The last few weeks leading up to the hot fire test has been intensive. The entire week, including the weekends, has been very busy with testing and working. Leading up to this we had eleven different tests, subsequently improving all subsystems”, Philipp Studer and Mike Wettke, the Project Managers of RAVEN, says.
But the testing has not been the deciding factor or the sole explanation for the success.
“We have all put in countless of hours in this project. We have eliminated several errors and even failed some tests which has motivated us to improve the engine further”, they say.
On the day of the test the entire RAVEN team are gathered on the parking lot, visible from one of the windows in their workshop. Some are tinkering with the engine, another group is preparing cameras for documentation, and some are in charge of the safety, putting barricade tape on the ground to display the hazardous area.
Mike is part of the Rocket Motor team, they are in charge of preparing and testing the engine before the baptism by fire. They are double checking everything just before they hear that there is now only one minute left until they are firing up the engine.
“Everything was fine, and I was calm up to the t-1 minute warning. Standing there with the team and a few visitors, all nervous and excited at the same time, was one of the most suspenseful moments in my life.”
Philipp on the other hand is controlling the livestream and oversees the final countdown.
“I saw the entire test area and I kept asking myself if we had done enough to make this happen. Had we planned the firing sequence correctly, what would we do if it failed or even worse, if something was destroyed. I knew we could make it, but the last ten seconds before the burn were nerve-racking”, Philipp says.
All of the preparations and hours on working with the project led to this engine test. The fuel was ignited, and the rocket engine tested in its full. This proved that the students can successfully test the engine in a safe way and will now shift their focus on designing a flight ready, lighter and more powerful engine.
“We want to reach the peak performance of our engine. As soon as we have done that we can improve the fuel usage, but that means that there will be a lot of testing in the future. Once we have done that we want to design a new, bigger and better engine as well as the rocket to go with it”, Mike says and continues:
“Overall it is a fantastic experience and there is a lot to learn in working with something like this. Of course it is good for future jobs but it has also helped us all improve our language skills, communicating and to work as a team which is definitely needed in the space industry.”
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