Maxus is a sounding rocket that are used in the MAXUS microgravity rocket programme, a joint venture between Swedish Space Corporation and EADS Astrium Space Transportation used by ESA. [1] It is launched from Esrange Space Center in Sweden and provides access to microgravity for up to 14 minutes. [2]
| Mission | Date | Launch site | Motor | Apogee | Payload | Modules | Comments | Reference Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maxus 1 | 1991 May 8 | Esrange | Castor 4B | 154 km | ||||
| Maxus 1B | 1992 Nov 8 | Esrange | Castor 4B | 717 km | Successful | |||
| Maxus 2 | 1995 Nov 29 | Esrange | Castor 4B | 706 km | Successful | |||
| Maxus 3 | 1998 Nov 24 | Esrange | Castor 4B | 713 km | 798 kg | 5/ESA | Successful | Esrange EUP105-99006 |
| Maxus 4 | 2001 Apr 29 | Esrange | Castor 4B | 704 km | 803 kg | 5/ESA | Mostly successful; parachute failed | Esrange EUP110-E15 |
| Maxus 5 | 2003 Apr 1 | Esrange | Castor 4B | 703 km | 795 kg | 5/ESA | Mostly successful; rough landing | Esrange EUP114-E114 |
| Maxus 6 | 2004 Nov 22 | Esrange | Castor 4B | 707 km | 793 kg | 5/ESA | Successful | Esrange EUP117-E146 |
| Maxus 7 | 2006 May 2 | Esrange | Castor 4B | 705 km | 785 kg | 5/ESA | Successful | Esrange EUP124-E36 |
| Maxus 8 | 2010 March 26 | Esrange | Castor 4B | 703 km | 803 kg | 3/Astrium ST 1/SSC | Successful | |
| Maxus 9 | 2017 April 7 | Esrange | Castor 4B | 849 kg | Successful | [3] | ||
A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to launch instruments from 48 to 145 km above the surface of the Earth, the altitude generally between weather balloons and satellites; the maximum altitude for balloons is about 40 km and the minimum for satellites is approximately 121 km. Certain sounding rockets have an apogee between 1,000 and 1,500 km, such as the Black Brant X and XII, which is the maximum apogee of their class. For certain purposes Sounding Rockets may be flown to altitudes as high as 3,000 kilometers to allow observing times of around 40 minutes to provide geophysical observations of the magnetosphere, ionosphere, thermosphere and mesosphere. Sounding rockets have been used for the examination of atmospheric nuclear tests by revealing the passage of the shock wave through the atmosphere. In more recent times Sounding Rockets have been used for other nuclear weapons research. Sounding rockets often use military surplus rocket motors. NASA routinely flies the Terrier Mk 70 boosted Improved Orion, lifting 270–450-kg (600–1,000-pound) payloads into the exoatmospheric region between 97 and 201 km.
Vega was an expendable small-lift launch vehicle operated by Arianespace, produced by Avio, and jointly developed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Development began in 1998 and the first launch took place from the Guiana Space Centre on 13 February 2012. It was the 8th most launched small lift launch vehicle in history. The final flight of the rocket took place on 5 September 2024, after being replaced by the improved Vega C, already in use since 2022.
BepiColombo is a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to the planet Mercury. The mission comprises two satellites launched together: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and Mio. The mission will perform a comprehensive study of Mercury, including characterization of its magnetic field, magnetosphere, and both interior and surface structure. It was launched on an Ariane 5 rocket on 20 October 2018 at 01:45 UTC, with an arrival at Mercury planned for November 2026, after a flyby of Earth, two flybys of Venus, and six flybys of Mercury. The mission was approved in November 2009, after years in proposal and planning as part of the European Space Agency's Horizon 2000+ programme; it is the last mission of the programme to be launched.
Esrange Space Center is a rocket range and research centre located about 40 kilometers east of the town of Kiruna in northern Sweden. It is a base for scientific research with high-altitude balloons, investigation of the aurora borealis, sounding rocket launches, and satellite tracking, among other things. Located 200 km north of the Arctic Circle and surrounded by a vast wilderness, its geographic location is ideal for many of these purposes.
The Swedish National Space Agency is a Government agency in Sweden operating under the Swedish Ministry of Education and Science. SNSA operates as a key component of the Swedish space programme, which is mostly carried out through international cooperation, and has included a sequence of satellite missions, both national ones and in cooperation with other nations. Furthermore, the agency distributes government grants to research and development, initiates research and development in space and remote sensing, and acts as the Swedish contact in international cooperative efforts.
The Swedish Space Corporation, SSC, also registered as Svenska rymdaktiebolaget, is a Swedish space services company. SSC operations consist of launches of sounding rockets and stratospheric balloons, tests of future generation rocket engines and new rocket fuels, operation and maintenance of space and aviation systems, as well as satellite communications through the use of SSC ground stations deployed around the world. SSC is also working on developing its Space Surveillance Tracking (SST) and Space Traffic Management (STM) programs with the aim to identify, assess and minimize risks of collisions and disruptions associated with space debris.
The Petrel was a British sounding rocket. The Petrel 1 was launched, like the Skua 1, with 3 Chick booster rockets. The Chick motors were fitted into a booster carriage that also carried the two parachutes that brought it back to earth for re-use. The Petrel 1 was 3.34 m long, had a diameter of 19 cm and reached a maximum altitude of 140 kilometres. It was fired from a 10-metre-long (33 ft) launch tube.
The European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) was an international organisation founded by 10 European nations with the intention of jointly pursuing scientific research in space. It was founded in 1964. As an organisation ESRO was based on a previously existing international scientific institution, CERN. The ESRO convention, the organisations founding document outlines it as an entity exclusively devoted to scientific pursuits. This was the case for most of its lifetime but in the final years before the formation of ESA, the European Space Agency, ESRO began a programme in the field of telecommunications. Consequently, ESA is not a mainly pure science focused entity but concentrates on telecommunications, earth observation and other application motivated activities. ESRO was merged with ELDO in 1975 to form the European Space Agency.
Castor is a family of solid-fuel rocket stages and boosters built by Thiokol and used on a variety of launch vehicles. They were initially developed as the second-stage motor of the Scout rocket. The design was based on the MGM-29 Sergeant, a surface-to-surface missile developed for the United States Army at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
VSB-30 - "Veículo de Sondagem Booster – 30" or "Foguete Suborbital VSB-30" is the designation of a Brazilian sounding rocket, which replaced the Skylark rocket at Esrange.
TEXUS is a European/German sounding rocket programme, serving the microgravity programmes of ESA and DLR. The launches are conducted from Esrange in Sweden.
A number of suborbital spaceflights were conducted during 2008. These consist mostly of sounding rocket missions and missile tests, and include other flights such as an ASAT firing. Between the start of the year and 16 July, at least 43 publicly announced suborbital spaceflights were conducted, the first of them on 11 January.
Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g or, incorrectly, zero gravity.
The Johannes Kepler ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle 2 (ATV-2), was an uncrewed cargo spacecraft built to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). It was launched on February 16, 2011 by the European Space Agency (ESA). Johannes Kepler carried propellant, air and dry cargo weighing over 7,000 kilograms (15,000 lb), and had a total mass of over 20,000 kilograms (44,000 lb), making it, at the time, the heaviest payload launched by the ESA. The second of five Automated Transfer Vehicle spacecraft, it was named after the 17th-century German astronomer Johannes Kepler.
MASER is a sounding rocket that is used in the MASER microgravity research rocket programme, operated by the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC). The main customer is the European Space Agency (ESA), particularly the EMIR and ELIPS programmes. MASER stands for "MAterials Science Experiment Rocket".
ELIPS - European Programme for Life and Physical Sciences in Space and applications utilising the International Space Station started in 2001 and was intended to cover the activities for the following 5 years. This Microgravity Programme at the European Space Agency (ESA) is an optional programme, with currently 17 ESA member states participating. The ELIPS programme prepares and performs research on the International Space Station, and other uncrewed mission platforms like Sounding Rockets, in fundamental and applied life and physical sciences. ELIPS is the continuation of the earlier European microgravity programmes EMIR 1&2, and the Microgravity Facilities for Columbus, MFC.
The Mobile Rocket Base, abbreviated MORABA, is a department of the DLR Space Operations and Astronaut Training in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich. Since the 1960s, the MORABA has performed scientific high altitude research missions with unmanned rockets and balloons, and has developed the required mechanical and electrical systems. Their operational areas include upper atmosphere research, microgravity research, astronomy, geophysics, materials science, as well as hypersonic research.
The Space Rider is a planned uncrewed orbital lifting body spaceplane aiming to provide the European Space Agency (ESA) with affordable and routine access to space. Contracts for construction of the vehicle and ground infrastructure were signed in December 2020. Its maiden flight is currently scheduled for the third quarter of 2025.
The REXUS/BEXUS programme is a cooperation between the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA) that allows students from higher education institutions to study experiments on board sounding rockets and stratospheric balloons. Through a collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), the opportunity has been made available for students across all ESA Member States, Slovenia and Canada. The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) and the Mobile rocket base (MORABA) of DLR are responsible for the launch. Students are getting support from experts of DLR, ESA, SSC and ZARM. The programme started in 2007.
The German space programme is the set of projects funded by the government of Germany for the exploration and use of outer space. The space programme is run by the German Aerospace Center, who conduct research, plan, and implement the programme on behalf of the German federal government.
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