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| The British Amateur Space / Rocket Programme |
ASPIRE IASPIRE I was started early in 1991. The project involved commitment from student groups from four universities:
and was supported by a number of UK commercial organisations such as British Airways, Serco Space, Irvin Emergency and Recovery Parachutes, Reaction Engines Limited, Department of Aerospace Engineering - Bristol University and Dynamite Nobel. This support ranged from the provision of system components and financial aid, to access to materials, fabrication facilities and expertise.
ASPIRE I was of all-aluminium construction with a carbon fibre nosecone. It measured 1.9 metres in length and had a launch mass of 21 kg. It was powered by a solid rocket motor with a total impulse of9100 Newton seconds.
ASPIRE I carried an avionics package consisting of a flight computer using a Z-80 CPU, 2 backup parachute timers, onboard data recorders utilising a tape system and the telemetry system (operating at 136 MHz).
The payloads carried were a 35 mm stills camera, and a nephelometer. The avionics system also carried sensors to measure temperature, pressure, altitude and air speed.
The vehicle was designed to be recovered by a cruciform parachute, deployed by a descent stabilising drogue parachute which opened at apogee.
The culmination of the year-long effort, which included the development of an airframe, avionics package and payload, was a launch of ASPIRE I at a French rocket test range in Mourmelon, on 26th July 1992. Following a successful launch, the rocket reached a height of 3.5 kilometres (11,200 feet) and a peak velocity of Mach 1.3. The apogee was reached 25 seconds after lift-off. However, due to a change in launch angle imposed on the rocket by the French organisers just before the launch took place, the subsequent vehicle apogee speed exceeded the design limit of the drogue parachute. The drogue parachute separated from the main vehicle, thus the parachute recovery system failed to deploy, resulting in the crash landing and destruction of the vehicle. Although the propulsion section of the rocket survived relatively intact, the payload bay was all but annihilated. All that survived of the various on-board experiments was a single frame of film which although slightly damaged, clearly shows the launch site and surrounding area from a great height.
Photograph taken from ASPIRE I
The disappointment at the loss of ASPIRE I and it's payload was soon overshadowed by the feeling of achievement felt by all associated with the project - the ASPIRE I team had managed to come together and solve all the various technological and organisational difficulties associated with a project of this nature - successfully and within an extremely tight set of timescales.
Model of ASPIRE I in Wind Tunnel at Bristol University
ASPIRE I Payload (foreground) and Avionics / Flight Computer
(background)
ASPIRE I Team
ASPIRE I Launch
ASPIRE I Payload and Avionics Bay - Following Touchdown
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aspire-info@gbnet.net