LAPLander

Space probe

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LAPLander (short for a light airbag-protected lander) is a prototype of a space probe primarily intended for measurements in the ionosphere. The prototype aims to evaluate the flight characteristics, e.g. air braking, of a flight from the border of space. Furthermore, the impact protection and recovery systems will be evaluated.[1] As the name says, the recovery system is based on airbags, that serve both deceleration and impact protection.[2] The future version of LAPLander will make it possible to do multi-point measurements, which will be of great help in the research of the complex processes within the ionosphere that contributes to auroras and disturbances in satellite communication.

## Rexus flight[edit]

Laplander is selected for the REXUS/BEXUS program [3] and was launched on a sounding rocket flight from Esrange Space Center (outside Kiruna) in March 2010. The rocket is unguided, spin-stabilized, and powered by an Improved Orion motor, which is capable to bring the payload to an apogee of 100 km,[4] which is the border to space.[5] The event is sponsored by the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA) and the German Space Agency (DLR), in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA).

## Flight characteristics[edit]

To reconstruct the flight, LAPLander will record the following parameters:

* Three-axis acceleration
* Three-axis rotation rate
* Three-component magnetic field
* Temperature (for various parts of the payload)
* Raw GPS data

The latter is provided a cooperation with Cornell University, New York, United States. The device to be used is a novel miniature GPS, that in contrast to a common GPS can determine the attitude. This is made by measuring the phase difference from the GPS signal between two antennas.[2]

## Development[edit]

The development of LAPlander started in 2008 and took place at the Alfvén Laboratory, Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

### The LAPLander team[edit]

The team[1] behind this project consists of:

Overall issues:

* Dr. Nickolay Ivchenko, supervisor, Sweden
* Torbjörn Sundberg, team leader, Ph.D. student, Sweden

Mechanical and aerodynamical issues:

* Matias Wartelski, MSc aerospace engineering student, Spain
* Christian Westlund, MSc aerospace engineering student, Sweden
* Li Xin, MSc aerospace engineering student, China
* Erik Sund, MSc aerospace engineering student, Sweden
* Patrtik Ahlen, MSc aerospace engineering student, Sweden

Electrical issues:

* Malin Gustafsson, MSc electrical engineering student, Sweden
* Joakim Sandström, MSc electrical engineering student, Sweden
* Oliver Neuner, MSc electro physics student, Germany
* Christian Jonsson, MSc mechatronics engineering student, Sweden
* Johan Juhlén, MSc mechatronics engineering student, Sweden
* Johan Thelander, MSc mechatronics engineering student, Sweden
* Mattias Hedberg, MSc mechatronics engineering student, Sweden

## See also[edit]

* Space probe

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b "LAPLander – a student rocket project" Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved on 2009-07-15
2. ^ a b "LAPLander's REXUS / BEXUS Experiment Proposal" Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved on 2009-07-17
3. ^ "Experts select future REXUS/BEXUS experiments", Retrieved on 2009-07-15
4. ^ "REXUS BEXUS – Rocket and Balloon Experiments for University Students", Retrieved on 2009-07-17
5. ^ "Earth's atmosphere", Retrieved on 2009-07-17

## External links[edit]

* Official site
* Blog written by the LAPLander team (started 2009-03-13)