SUAINEADH LAUNCH, MONDAY, 1300 (SWEDISH TIME)

We just had the Flight Readiness Review (FRR) of the rockets REXUS 11 and REXUS 12 and the experiments are ready for launch. This is the first time in REXUS history that both rockets are ready ahead of time and therefore it was decided to launch REXUS 12 already tomorrow (Monday) and REXUS 11 on Wednesday. Strathclyde's experiment Suaineadh will be launched onboard REXUS 12.

HOT COUNTDOWN STARTS AT 1300 (Swedish time/ 1200 UK time)! The weather predictions looks favourable with high clouds and winds within the limits.

The link for the livestream is available here:
http://www.livestream.com/rexusbexus

Updates on our facebook page can be followed here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Suaineadh-REXUS12/100114003401934

Special thanks to the Suaineadh launch campaign crew consisting
of Adam, Jerker, Malcolm, Fredrik and Junyi, you did an awesome job over the last seven days. Thank you also to all the team members that couldn't make it to Esrange for the launch, it wouldn't been possible without you.

GODSPEED SUAINEADH, LETS GO FLY :)

About Suaineadh:

Students from three institutions (University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, UK), University of Glasgow (Glasgow, UK) and KTH (Stockholm, Sweden)) are launching their experiment Suaineadh (pronaunced She-NAID) onboard a sounding rocket in March 2012. The aim of the

experiment is to deploy and stabilise a space web in micro-gravity by means of the centrifugal forces acting on the spinning assembly which is ejected from the nosecone of DLR/SNSB/ESA's REXUS (Rocket EXperiments for University Students) rocket. Controlled web deployment and stabilisation will be achieved by an active control method. This new approach has the potential of drastically simplifying the design of a Furoshiki net while enhancing its stability. The experiment will provide an enormous scientific return on the behaviour of a centrifugally deployed and stabilised large structure in space.

Team leaving for LAUNCH CAMPAIGN

This weekend the Suaineadh team will travel to Esrange in Kiruna (Sweden) for the REXUS 11/12 launch. Suaineadh's launch is preliminary scheduled for the 22nd of March onboard REXUS 12, REXUS 11 will be launched on Wednesday the 21st of March. During the first couple of days of the launch campaign the teams will assemble their experiments and get them ready for the integration in the rocket. In the following, the experiments will be tested for interferences with other experiments or the rocket. The preparation finishes with a hot countdown.

Adam and Jerker will be the first of the team that will drive up to Kiruna tomorrow from Stockholm, Malcolm and Thomas will fly in from Glasgow on Monday and Fredrik and Junyi will arrive in Esrange by Tuesday.

During the launch campaign we will have a live stream on how we get Suaienadh ready for the launch and live footage of the RX11/RX12 launch :)

Suaineadh getting ready for REXUS12 spinning test

Next week, the Suaienadh team will travel to SSC Solna for the REXUS12 spinning test where the entire rocket will be spun and balanced. Fredrik and Junyi will head over to change the location of the antennas and to mount CHAD in the rocket. This will be the last time the team has access to the experiment before the launch campaign in Kiruna (12th -23rd of March 2012).

Bench Test in Oberpfaffenhofen

From the 18^th till 20^th of January 2012, the Suaineadh team travelled to Munich for the REXUS 11/12 bench test at DLR Oberpfaffenhofen. Jerker and Thomas left for Munich on the evening of the 10^th of January. The first night at the hotel was mainly spent with integrating Suaineadh and the web. On the first full day, all the teams from the REXUS 12 rocket brought their experiments for integration to DLR Oberpfaffenhofen. On board REXUS 12 there are four other experiments: SOMID, SPACE, REDEMPTION and TELESCOPE. Every single

experiment was tested with the REXUS service module to verify the receiving of signals from the rocket. Suaineadh had some problems at first to receive the lift off signal but the mistake was found easily. The first day ended with a successful test of all the experiments. During the second day the experiments were joined together and a couple of full countdowns were performed, Suaineadh performed flawlessly and got the GO for the launch campaign in March in Kiruna.

Suaineadh preparing for Integration Week in Bremen

The Suaineadh team is currently getting the experiment ready for the Integration Week in Bremen from the 12^th till the 16^th of December. In early November Mark Uitendaal from SSC visited the team in Glasgow for the Experiment Acceptance Review (EAR) to see if the experiment is ready to be shipped to DLR/SSC/ESA. Unfortunately, an hour before the EAR the entire electronic stopped working. The Suaineadh team therefore only could show the mechanics. Based on that, the team decided to spend night and day in the workshop and finish the mechanical part of the experiment in order to be able to ship it to KTH in Stockholm asap, so that Adam, Jerker and Fredrik could search for the error and test the electronics thoroughly. The mistake was found to be just a short circuit on one of the modems as a result of changing to metal spacers. With this problem fixed, the KTH team put all their energy into Suaineadh to get it ready for the 12^th of December. Adam and Malcolm will head to the Integration Week in Bremen on Sunday, the 11^th of December, a vibration test in ZARM Bremen of Suaineadh is scheduled for Monday, the 12^th.

Long days for the Suaineadh team

Due to the fact that the Experiment Acceptance Review (EAR) of Suaineadh on the 7^th of November is getting closer, the Suaineadh team is spending a lot of time in the workshop and lab these days. During the last couple of days the 915MHz antennas have been manufactured at KTH. The picture on the left shows the radiation pattern testing of the small 915 MHz antenna. The antenna is generating a signal with the frequency of 945 MHz which results in a received signal as can be seen on the spectrum analyzer. The picture on the right shows CHAD with some of the cameras already mounted. In the meantime the team members at KTH are working hard to assemble and test the entire electronics in order to ship them to Glasgow next week Monday. After that the final assembly and testing will be carried out in Glasgow.

Let's go for a spin

The spinning test rig for the Suaineadh experiment is now finished. The test rig should validate the functionality of the experiment after yo-yo despin when the entire REXUS rocket will be despun from 4Hz to 0Hz in a fraction of a second. First tests without the electronics showed no problems.