The REXUS 2013 launch campaign has started!

A year and a half after their selection, and after intense work at their universities and several reviews made by space experts of the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB), the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and ESA, the teams are now closer to seeing the results of their efforts: seeing their experiment fly in space and return back to Earth, and then analyse the outcome.

This year’s REXUS experiments range from atmospheric measurements to the behaviour of liquids and soldered alloys in reduced gravity to the testing of new techniques to deploy structures in space.

Eight teams - six sponsored by SNSB and ESA’s Education Office and two by DLR - have now finished preparing and testing  their individual experiments.

The students’ experiments will be connected to the REXUS Service System for a series of bench tests, after which the experiment payloads will be assembled for flight simulations. Once the tests are completed, the experiment payloads will be mated with their rocket motors, rocket recovery systems, and nose cones.

Follow the progress of the REXUS 13 and 14 launch campaign on our Facebook page!

The REXUS/BEXUS programme

The REXUS/BEXUS educational programme is realised under a bilateral Agency Agreement between DLR and the SNSB. The Swedish share of the payload is made available to students from other European countries through a collaboration with ESA.

EuroLaunch, a cooperation between the Esrange Space Center of SSC and the Mobile Rocket Base (MORABA) of DLR, is responsible for campaign management and the operation of the launch vehicles. Experts from DLR, SSC 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.