BEXUS 34/35 Stratospheric Balloon Campaign: A Milestone for University Students
A group of 68 university students had the unique experience of participating in the launch campaign for two stratospheric balloons, BEXUS 34 and 35, in northern Sweden. Far from being mere spectators, these students were key contributors, having designed and developed cutting-edge experiments that flew aboard the balloons. The nine participating teams represented universities from across Europe, with six teams supported by the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA) and ESA, and three by the German Space Agency (DLR).
From Concept to Launchpad
The REXUS/BEXUS programme offers students an invaluable opportunity to work on space projects that mimic real-world professional missions, all within a condensed timeline. Following a rigorous selection process in December 2023, where the students presented their ideas to a panel of experts from space agencies and industry, the teams embarked on a demanding journey. From design refinement through multiple technical reviews to the integration and testing phases, they worked under the guidance of professionals from SNSA, DLR, ESA, SSC (Swedish Space Corporation), ZARM (Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity), and MORABA (Mobile Rocket Base of DLR).
After nearly a year of effort, the teams gathered at Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden for the much-anticipated launch campaign, which ran from 27 September to 7 October 2024. During the initial phase of the campaign, the student teams performed final system checks and rigorous tests alongside the balloon flight hardware to ensure their experiments were fully operational.
BEXUS 34/35 Take Flight
The first balloon to be ready for launch was BEXUS 35. Right from the start of the campaign, weather forecasts pointed to a favourable launch window on 2 October. However, during the final countdown, strong winds at ground level prompted two pauses. The teams, resolute, carried on, and the balloon finally launched at 09:53 local time (LT), after a four-and-a-half-hour countdown. BEXUS 35 ascended to an altitude of 27.7 km, where it floated for 3 hours and 30 minutes before the balloon was released, allowing the gondola to return safely to Earth under a parachute. By 09:00 of 4 October, the student teams had successfully retrieved their experiments, ready for analysis.
The BEXUS 35 flight carried four experiments, two of which were sponsored by SNSA and ESA:
- CURiE (Composite and Photovoltaic Undergoing Radiation Effects) from Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
- HEIMDAL (Hyperspectral Environmental Imagery Measurements Differentiating between Areas of Localized Specimens) from the University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Two other experiments were sponsored by DLR:
- ARESONUS (Altus. Repetitio. Sonus – Measuring of Infrasound/Aerosonic in the Stratosphere) from Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences, Germany
- CHAOS (Cherenkov Atmospheric Observation System) from Kiel University, Germany
For BEXUS 34, the weather conditions continued to put launch operations on hold. Students and campaign personnel were waiting patiently for the wind to slow down, with all equipment ready to go once the opportunity would arise.
A first launch attempt was done in the early morning of 3 October but had to be stopped due to strong winds. Then finally, in the early afternoon of Friday 4 October, even if the launch window was extremely slim due again to strong winds, BEXUS 34 was released at 15:47 LT. It reached an altitude of 27.2 km, where it stayed for more than 2 hours. Again, the experiments were recovered the day after the flight.
The four SNSA/ESA sponsored experiments on board BEXUS 34 were:
- RETINA (Real-time Experiment for Thermal management, Inertial Navigation and Attitude) from Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
- SVAROG (Investigation of large-scale membrane deployment dynamics in near vacuum conditions) from Imperial College London, United Kingdom
- SMART (Satellite and Meteor Awareness from Radar Technology) from University of Porto, Portugal
- STORMDUST (Science of TOxin migRation and Microbiology in DifficUlt STratospheric conditions) from Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland
One additional experiment was sponsored by DLR:
- SpiCy (Stratospheric investigation of combinatory cyanobacterial biofilms) from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany
The results
During both balloon flights, the experiments worked as expected and although minor issues were encountered, overall, the launch campaign was considered extremely successful. A preliminary presentation of the results was conducted on Sunday 6 October, while further analysis of the acquired data will be done at the students’ home universities during the next months.
Congratulations to all the participating teams for the successful launch and the impressive outcomes achieved during this year's BEXUS 34/35 Campaign. Their hard work, perseverance, and dedication throughout the project have been truly remarkable, reflecting both the depth of their commitment and the success of their innovative experiments. This campaign marks an important milestone, not only for the scientific progress made but also for the invaluable hands-on experience gained by the students, which will undoubtedly serve as a solid foundation for their future careers in space science and engineering.
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 Swedish Space Corporation (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.