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…
- Go behind the scenes!
Read about the test day and the results here.
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!
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