REXUS / BEXUS |
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REXUS |
General Information |
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First Flight (REXUS 1) | 1995-12-04 |
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Next launch campaign | March 2018 (REXUS 23/24) |
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Launch site | Esrange Space Center (Sweden) |
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Launches | 22 |
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Altitude | 80km |
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Propulsion |
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Propellant | Solid |
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Motor | Improved ORION |
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BEXUS |
General Information |
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First Flight (BEXUS 1) | 2002-11-25 |
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Next launch campaign | October 2017 (BEXUS 24/25) |
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Launch site | Esrange Space Center (Sweden) |
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Flights | 23 |
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REXUS/BEXUS Areas of investigation
REXUS/BEXUS Cumulative geographical distribution of participants.
REXUS/BEXUS (Rocket Experiments for University Students / Balloon Experiments for University Students) programme allows students from universities and higher education colleges across Europe to carry out scientific and technological experiments on sounding rockets and balloons.
Each year, two rockets and two balloons are launched carrying up to 20 experiments designed and built by student teams.
The REXUS/BEXUS programme is realised under a bilateral Agency Agreement between the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA). The Swedish share of the payload has been made available to students from other European countries through a collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA). EuroLaunch, a cooperation between the Esrange Space Center of SSC and the Mobile Rocket Base (MORABA) of DLR, is responsible for the campaign management and operations of the launch vehicles. Experts from DLR, SSC, ZARM and ESA provide technical support to the student teams throughout the project. REXUS and BEXUS are launched from SSC, Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden.
2017 is the 10th Anniversary of the REXUS/BEXUS programme which started with REXUS 5/6 and BEXUS 6/7. However first BEXUS (I-V) balloons were launched prior the creation of the programme in its current form through a cooperation between SSC Esrange and the Department of Space Science at Kiruna Space and Environment Campus. First REXUS flight was in 1995 with the GPS-Orion-Rocket renamed REXUS by the students. This name was in fact inspired by MAXUS and TEXUS sounding rockets. Then the second REXUS was launched 9 years later! Actually it was the first EuroLaunch project and was successfully launched in Esrange. Thanks to this success, the flights of REXUS 3 and 4 took place in 2006 and 2008. In the meantime, DLR and SNSB decided to create a cooperation in student rocket and balloon activities. The agreement was signed in 2007 during the 18th PAC Symposium, it was the beginning of the REXUS/BEXUS adventure!
In 10 years 147 experiments were launched involving more than 1200 students from all over Europe (majority were from Germany and Sweden). The experiments investigates different scientific areas such as Atmospheric Research, Radiation Physics, Deployment Systems, Control Systems, Communication, Fluid Physics...
REXUS - Rocket EXperiments for University Students
REXUS rockets are launched from Esrange on an annual basis (nominally 2 rockets each spring), with full recovery and return of the experiment hardware to the students.
- Type: Spin-stabilized rocket, powered by an Improved Orion motor
- Mass: 515 kg (at launch) [1]
- Size: 5.6 m long, body diameter 35.6 cm
- Fuel: 290 kg of solid propellant
- Peak altitude: 80–90 km
- Payload: Student experiments of max 40 kg, system payload 90 kg
- Recovery: Helicopter
- REXUS Video [2]
REXUS Missions
REXUS Experiments
REXUS 5
- Itikka (Inertial Measurement Unit) - FINLAND
- CharPa (Charge state of mesospheric smoke Particles) - GERMANY
- VIB-BIP (Vibration Effects on Biphasic Fluids) - SPAIN
REXUS 6
- AGADE (Applied Geomagnetics for Attitude Determination) - GERMANY
- NISSE (Nordic Inospheric Sounding rocket Seeding Experiment) - NORWAY
REXUS 7
- BUGS (Boom for University Gravity-gradient stabilized Satellites) - ITALY
- MONDARO (Measurement Of Neutral gas Density in the Atmosphere by ROcket) - GERMANY
- VibraDamp (Damping system for an experiment module) - GERMANY
REXUS 8
- LAPLander (Light Airbag Protected Lander) - SWEDEN
- TUPEX-3 (Verification of UHF communication system and sun sensor for nanosatellites) - GERMANY
- VECTOR (Verification of Concepts for Tracking and Orientation) - GERMANY
REXUS 9
- Telescobe (Demonstration of a new telescopic boom system) - IRELAND
- SPONGE (Sounding rocket Propellant OrieNtation microGravity Experiment) - ITALY
- EXPLORE (EXPeriment for Liquid On-orbit REfueling) - GERMANY
- REMOS (REcession MOnitoring System) - GERMANY
REXUS 10
- FOCUS (First Orbital Curing experiment of University Students) - GERMANY
- GaGa (Granular Anisotropic GAses) - GERMANY
- M-BEAM (Magnetic BEAring for brushless DC Motor) - AUSTRIA
- SQUID (Spinning QUad Ionospheric Deployer) - SWEDEN
REXUS 11
- GGES (Gravity Gradient Earth Sensor) - SWITZERLAND
- RAIN (Rocket deployed Atmospheric probes conducting Independent measurements in Northern Sweden) - SWEDEN
- Telescobe 2 (Demonstration of a new telescopic boom system) - IRELAND
- CaRu (Experiment on Capillarity under microgravity shown with Runge pictures) - GERMANY
- ADIOS (Advanced Isolation on Sounding Rockets) - GERMANY
REXUS 12
- Suaineadh (Deployment and stabilisation of a spinning net) - SWEDEN
- REDEMPTION (REmoval of DEbris using Material with Phase Transition: IONospherical tests) - ITALY
- SOMID (Solid-borne Sound Measurement for the Independent Detection of Events on Space Vehicles) - GERMANY
- SPACE (Suborbital Particle Aggregation and Collision Experiment) - GERMANY
REXUS 13
- CERESS (Compatible and Extendable REXUS Support BuS) - GERMANY
- MUSCAT (MUltiple Spheres for Characterisation of Atmospheric Temperature) - SWEDEN
- SOLAR (SOLdering Alloys in Reduced gravity) - SWEDEN
- StrathSat-R (Investigation into the use of two Cubesat-based deployable inflatable structures, including: a solar sail and a dynamic structure that adapts to varying conditions) - UK
REXUS 14
- CAESAR (CApillarity-based Experiment for Spatial Advanced Research) - SWITZERLAND
- EDoDSpaceSailors (Experimental Deployment of a Dragsail) - GERMANY
- Gekko (Measurement of the variation in electric conductivity with altitude) - HUNGARY
- PoleCATS (POLar test of the Conceptial and Tiny Spectrometer) - UK
REXUS 15
- FOVS (Fibre-Optic Vibration Sensing experiment) - GERMANY
- ISAAC (Infrared Spectroscopy to Analyse the upper Atmosphere’s Composition) - SWEDEN
- MEDUSA (MEasurement of the D-region plasma USing Active falling plasma probes) - GERMANY
- StrathSat-R (Investigation into the use of two Cubesat-based deployable inflatable structures, including: a solar sail and a dynamic structure that adapts to varying conditions – Reflight) - UK
REXUS 16
- CWIS (Chemical Waves in Soret Effect) - ITALY/BELGIUM
- HORACE (HORizon ACquisition Experiment) - GERMANY
- LOW Gravity (Laser Ouput Welding in microGRAVITY) - UK
- MOXA (Measurements of Ozone and oXygen in upper Atmosphere) - GERMANY
REXUS 17
- SCRAP (SCattering of Radar waves on Aerosols in Plasmas) - SWEDEN
- WUSAT-2 SOLSPEC (Cubesat-based transit spectroscopy – Measuring the Sun’s spectrum at different atmospheric path lengths as an analogy to the study of exoplanet atmospheres) - UK
- REM-RED (GM Sounding Rocket Experiment to Measure the Cosmic Radiation and Estimate its Dose Contribution) - HUNGARY
REXUS 18
- ACTOR (Aerogel Cells Tested On REXUS) - GERMANY
- LICOD (Light-induced compression of dust clouds) - GERMANY
- PHOS (Pulsating Heat pipe Only for Space) - ITALY
- SMARD (Shape Memory Alloy Reusable Deployment Mechanism) - GERMANY
REXUS 19
- LiME (Link made early) - GERMANY
- PICARD (Prototype Inflatable Conical Antenna – REXUS Deployment) - UK
- MIRKA2-RX (MIkro-RückkehrKApsel 2 – REXUS) - GERMANY
- SLED (System of Free Falling Univts using LEDs to allow one to track the other) - SWEDEN
REXUS 20
- BOILUS (Boiling management by means of ultrasounds in microgravity conditions) - SPAIN
- CEMIOS (Electrophysiological study investigating cellular effects of weightlessness induced oocyte samples) - SWITZERLAND
- UB-Fire (Universitiy of Bremen – FIre Safety Research Experiment) - GERMANY
- PATHOS (Position-vector Acquisitaion Through Horizon Observation) - GERMANY
REXUS 21
- DIANE (Dipole Inflatable Antenna Experiment) - GERMANY
- DREAM (DRilling Experiment for Asteroid Mining) - POLAND
- SALACIA (Saline Liquids and Conductivity in the Atmosphere) - SWEDEN
- UB-SPACE (University of Bremen - Image Processing for Determination of relative Satellite Motion) - GERMANY
REXUS 22
- AtmoHIT (Atmospheric Hetrodyne Interferometer Test) - GERMANY
- GRAB (Gecko Related Adhesive test Bundles) - GERMANY
- RaCoS (Rate Control System Experiment) - GERMANY
- U-PHOS (Upgraded Pulsating Heat-Pipe Only for Space) - ITALY
New Experiments: CYCLE 10 - Launch Date: March 2018
REXUS 23
- ARES II (Axial Retention Experiment for PMD Sponges II) - SWITZERLAND
- DAEDALUS (Research of an Atmospheric Reentry of a Glider) - GERMANY/AUSTRIA
- SPAN (SPAce Navigation using Signals of Opportunity) - PORTUGAL
- TESOS (In-flight temperature measurement with structurally integrated fibre optic sensors) - GERMANY
- VIPER (Vaporizing Ice Penetration Experiment on a Rocket) - GERMANY
REXUS 24
- AQUASONIC II Black Box (Development of a memory flash device) - GERMANY
- MORE (Measuring Optoelectronics in Rocket Experiment) - FRANCE
- PIOneERS (Measuring Plasma Impedance Of ne using Ejectable Recoverable System) - UK
- ROACH (Robotic in-Orbit Analysis of Cover Hulls) - GERMANY
- WOLF (Wobbling Control system for spinning Free falling unit) - SWEDEN
BEXUS - Balloon EXperiments for University Students
BEXUS balloons are launched from Esrange on an annual basis (nominally 2 balloons each autumn).
- Balloon: 10,000 - 12,000 m3 Zodiac 12 SF plastic balloon with helium gas
- Length of balloon train: 65–100 m from top of balloon to gondola
- Experiment mass: 40–100 kg [27]
- Flight duration: 2–5 hours
- Peak altitude: 25–35 km
- Recovery: Helicopter
- BEXUS Video [28]
BEXUS Missions
Mission
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Date
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Launch site
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Balloon volume
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Peak altitude
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Flight duration
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Comments
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Link
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BEXUS 1
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2002-11-25
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Esrange
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First BEXUS before the creation of the programme
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BEXUS 2
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2004-02-26
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Esrange
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10 000 m3
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27 km
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BEXUS 3
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2005-03-22
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Esrange
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28.5 km
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EuroLaunch[29]
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BEXUS 4
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2006-06-19
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Esrange
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10 000 m3
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30 km
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3.2 hours
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BEXUS 5
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2007-03-28
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Esrange
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12,000 m3
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24.6 km
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3.5 hours
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EuroLaunch[30]
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BEXUS 6
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2008-10-08
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Esrange
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10 000 m3
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29 km
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2.5 hours
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First BEXUS of the REXUS/BEXUS Programme
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BEXUS 7
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2008-10-08
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Esrange
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12 000 m3
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26 km
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2.1 hours
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BEXUS 8
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2009-10-10
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Esrange
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27.8 km
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1.2 hours
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SSC
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BEXUS 9
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2009-10-11
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Esrange
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24.2 km
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2.1 hours
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SSC
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BEXUS 10
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2010-10-09
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Esrange
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24.4 km
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3.2 hours
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SSC
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BEXUS 11
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2010-11-23
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Esrange
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100 000 m3
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33 km
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1.7 hours
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SSC
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BEXUS 12
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2011-09-25
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Esrange
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27.5 km
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2 hours
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SSC[31] ESA[32]
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BEXUS 13
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2011-09-26
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Esrange
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24.8 km
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2.2 hours
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SSC[33] ESA[32]
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BEXUS 14
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2012-09-24
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Esrange
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28.6 km
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5 hours
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SSC[34] ESA[35]
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BEXUS 15
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2012-09-25
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Esrange
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25 km
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5 hours
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BEXUS 16
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2013-10-08
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Esrange
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12 000 m3
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27.3 km
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4 hours
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SSC[36]
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BEXUS 17
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2013-10-10
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Esrange
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12 000 m3
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26.3 km
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1.3 hours
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BEXUS 18
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2014-10-10
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Esrange
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27.2 km
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1.33 hours
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ESA[37]
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BEXUS 19
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2014-10-08
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Esrange
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27.4 km
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2.38 hours
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BEXUS 20
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2015-10-10
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Esrange
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28.2 km
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2.2 hours
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SSC[38] ESA[39]
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BEXUS 21
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2015-10-07
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Esrange
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27 km
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2.6 hours
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BEXUS 22
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2016-10-05
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Esrange
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35SF Balloon
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32.2 km
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2.2 hours
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Altitude Record !
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SSC[40] ESA[41]
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BEXUS 23
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2016-10-07
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Esrange
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35SF Balloon
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32.2 km
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3 hours
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Altitude Record !
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BEXUS 24
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2017-10-18
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Esrange
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26.5 km
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BEXUS 25
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2017-10-20
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Esrange
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25.85 km
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BEXUS Experiments
BEXUS 6
- LowCoINS (Low Cost Inertial Navigation System) - ITALY
- Icarus (Remote-controlled lifting body) - POLAND
- TURA (Turbulence in the stratospheric wind and temperature fields) - GERMANY
BEXUS 7
- Aurora SMF Polar Explorer (Stratosphere and Magnetic Field) - ITALY
- DOLS (Diversity and Origin of Life in Stratopshere) - GERMANY
- Stratospheric Census (Dust in the Stratosphere) - ERASMUS MUNDUS
- TimePIX@Space (Radiation profiles) - CZECH REPUBLIC
BEXUS 8
- MATI (Measurement of Atmospheric Turbulence with combined Instruments) - GERMANY
- REM (Radio Emission Monitor) - GERMANY
BEXUS 9
- COMPASS (Calculating and Observing Magnetic Polar field intensity in the StratoSphere) - ITALY
- CRIndIons (Cosmic Ray Induced Ionisation) - CZECH REPUBLIC
- NAVIS (North Atlantic Vessel Identification System) - DENMARK
- reel.SMRT (Balloon microgravity platform) - ERASMUS MUNDUS
- SO-high (Silicon-on-Insulator) - BELGIUM
BEXUS 10
- CASS-E (Cranfield Astrobiological Stratospheric Sampling Experiment) - UK
- I-BATE (International Space University - Balloon Air traffic control Technology Experiment) - FRANCE
- SCRAT (Spherical Compact Rechargeable Air Thruster) - ITALY
BEXUS 11
- LAERTES (Characterization of the radiative environment at high altitude by measuring neutron flux) - FRANCE
- PERDaix (Proton Electron Radiation Detector) - GERMANY
- RETA (Radiation Exposure in The Atmosphere) - GERMANY
- SCOPE 2.0 (Stabilized Camera Observation Platform Experiment)- POLAND
BEXUS 12
- CoCoRAD (Combined TriTel/Pille Cosmic Radiation and Dosimetric Measurements) - HUNGARY
- LITOS (Leibniz Institute Turbulence Observations in the Stratosphere) - GERMANY
BEXUS 13
- ARCADE (Autonomous Rendez-vous Control And Docking Experiment) - ITALY
- MARVEL (Martian Airborne Research Vehicle) - SWEDEN
- RETA (Radiation Exposure in The Atmosphere) - GERMANY
- VEXREDUS (Vehicle EXtended Reentry Duration) - GERMANY
BEXUS 14
- MONSTA (Measurement Of Neutrons with Scintillators in The Atmosphere) - GERMANY
- TECHDOSE (Development of a Complex Balloon Technology Platform for Advanced Cosmic Radiation and Dosimetric Measurements) - HUNGARY
BEXUS 15
- AMES (Atmospheric Magnetic and Electric field Sensor) - FRANCE
- BioDos (Continuous measurement of the change of UV radiation in dependence of altitude – Testing new method of measuring effects of UV radiation on biological systems) - HUNGARY
- MISSUS (Meteorological Integrated Sensor SUite for Stratospheric analysis) - ITALY
- SolSpecTre (Measurement of Solar Spectrum) - GERMANY
BEXUS 16
- DAEMON (DNA Adverse Effect Monitoring) - HUNGARY
- FLASH (Fluid Lab in the Stratosphere) - GERMANY
- iSEDE (Inflatable Satellite Encompassing Disaggregated Electronics) - UK
BEXUS 17
- ARCADE-R2 (Autonomous Rendezvous Control and Docking Experiment – Reflight 2) - ITALY
- TORMES (Topography from Reflectometric Measurements: an Experiment from Stratosphere) - SPAIN
BEXUS 18
- A5-Unibo (Advanced Atmospheric Aerosol Acquisition and Analysis) - ITALY
- AFIS-P (Antiproton Flux In Space – Prototype) - GERMANY
- ARCA (Advanced Receiver Concepts for ADS-B) - GERMANY
- COUGAR (COntrol of Unmanned Ground vehicle from higher Altitude in near Real time) - GERMANY
- POLARIS (POLymer-Actuated Radiator with Independent Surfaces) - ITALY
BEXUS 19
- ADAM (Angular Distribution of charged particles, Atmosphere Measurement) - GERMANY
- GranaSAT (Attitude control for a microsatellite based in a Star Tracker, and Earth’s magnetic field measurements) - SPAIN
- TamaOS (Monitoring of ozone and oxygen concentrations with miniaturized solid state sensors) - GERMANY
- TORMES 2.0 (TOpography from Reflectometric Measurements: an Experiment from Stratosphere) - SPAIN
BEXUS 20
- COSPA (Collection Of Stratospheric aerosol PArticles for a better understanding of the development of Polar Stratospheric Clouds) - GERMANY
- CPT-SCOPE (Cosmic Particle Telescope) - NORWAY / GERMANY
- HACORD (High Altitude Codmic Ray Detector) - BELGIUM
BEXUS 21
- FREDE2015 (FREon Decay Experiment) - POLAND
- InTex (INflatable TEXtile based antenna systems and structures) - GERMANY
- SPADE (Smartphone Platform for Acquisition of Data Experiment) - SPAIN
BEXUS 22
- BuLMA 2015 (Balloon micro Lifeform-and-Meteorite Assembler) - POLAND
- LOTUS-D (Laser Optical Transmission experiment of University Students - DATA) - GERMANY
- STRATONAV (STRATOspherical NAVigation experiment) - ITALY
- TPD-3 Vanguard (Technology Demonstrator Platform 3 “Vanguard”) - GERMANY
BEXUS 23
- ACORDE (Altitude COsmic Ray DEtector) - SPAIN
- SIGNON (SIGNals of Opportunity for Navigation) - PORTUGAL
- OSCAR (Optical Sensors based on Carbon nanomaterials) - BELGIUM
- PREDATOR (PREssure Difference dependency on Altitude verificATOR) - CZECH REPUBLIC
New Experiments: CYCLE 10 - Launch Date: October 2017
BEXUS 24
- CADMUS (Cloud chamber for high Altitude Detection of Muons Under Special relativity effect) - SPAIN
- DREX (Deployable Reflector EXperiment) - ITALY
- EXIST (Examination of Infrasound in the Stratosphere and Troposphere) - SWEDEN
- NEMESYS (Neutron Effects on Memory SYStems) - ITALY
BEXUS 25
- HAMBURG (High Altitude Meteoroids-dust-catching-Balloon constrUcted by a Revolutionary Generation) - GERMANY
- IRIS (Infra-Red albedo measurements In Stratosphere) - SWEDEN
- LOTUS-XD (Light power and Optical Transmission experiment of University Students – eXtra Data) - GERMANY
- SUNBYTE (Sheffield University Nova Balloon Lifted Telescope) - UK
See also
References
External links