CU Spaceflight has goal spaceflight
CU Spaceflight is a student-run society at Cambridge University. It is founded with the aim of achieving access to space, with minimal financial expenses. The society is supported by the Cambridge-MIT Institute.History
The society was founded in the summer of 2006, with the specific goal of launching a rocket into space for less than GBP£1000.As of November, 2007, CU Spaceflight has launched five non-crewed high-altitude balloons, of which two were not successful: Nova 2 was blown into the North Sea and Nova 5 failed to ignite the Martlet 1 solid rocket motor, but landed in a reusable state.
CU Spaceflight is a participant of the UK High Altitude Society.Projects
As of 2007, Cambridge University Spaceflight has three projects which it is pursuing; all three are critical to the long-term goal of successfully launching a rocket into space and retrieving it.Martlet
Martlet is the project aimed at the development of a small rocket and launch system which can be launched from a Nova balloon in the upper atmosphere.
CU Spaceflight aim the final Martlet rocket to be less than 1 metre long, weigh 3.5 kilograms, and carry a 0.5 kg payload. The intended cost per launch is less than GBP£1000. The rocket will be a solid-fuel rocket. Its objective is to reach suborbital space – i.e. reaching altitudes in excess of 100 km (the boundary of space).
The idea of a balloon-launched rocket – a rockoon – is not new, but is rarely practiced. The incentives for air-based launch are that the altitude the balloons reach are in the near space region – which is above 99% of the atmosphere – thus resulting in significantly less atmospheric drag, requiring far less rocket fuel.