In early October, Andøya Space will host a launch campaign featuring the German ATHEAt flight experiment, aimed at advancing key technologies for future reusable space vehicles.
Early October, Andøya Space will host a launch campaign that aims to develop important technologies for future reusable space vehicles.
“We are very proud to be able to host the German ATHEAt experiment,” says Kolbjørn Blix, VP Sub-orbital at Andøya Space. “It is an important technology development experiment for Europe’s future in space.”
ATHEAt stands for Advanced Technologies for High Energetic Atmospheric Flight of Launcher Stages. It is an flight experiment conducted by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to test materials, cooling techniques, miniaturized non-intrusive sensors and aerodynamic properties for future reusable space vehicles.
“The most stressful phase of a space vehicle is when it travels through Earth’s atmosphere,” says Blix. “DLR has done several experiments investigating this in the past, such as the two highly successful SHEFEX launches in 2007 and in 2012, as well as the STORT flight experiment in 2022 – all carried out from Andøya Space.”
“In order to perform the ATHEAt flight experiment, DLR aims to fly it at speeds between Mach eight to ten for a prolonged period of time,” Blix explains. “They will achieve this by launching the experiment on top of a two-stage sub-orbital rocket which will propel it up to the required speed.”
The launch vehicle will not leave Earth’s atmosphere but aims to reach a maximum altitude of about 54 kilometers. “This is still about 50 kilometers short of space, but reaching space is not an objective for now.”
“The experiment will launch from Andøya Space using a Red-Kite first
stage, which is another European space project,” says Blix. “Developed by DLR and Bayern-Chemie GmbH, the rocket motor performed its qualification flight from Andøya in November 2023 in the SOAR launch campaign. The upper stage rocket motor is a Black Brant Mark 4. I am happy to say that the relationship between DLR and Andøya Space goes back decades.”
The launch period reserved for ATHEAt starts on October 3rd and goes on to October 11th. The daily launch window goes from 10:30 to 16:45, local time. Andøya Space’s contribution to the project is launch services, telemetry services, support and necessary infrastructure.
“DLR’s comprehensive space research is a vital contribution to developing German and European space technologies and capabilities, many of which are tested here at Andøya Space. Europe needs to close the gap in space in capabilities. We are very proud to be able to contribute to that development,” Blix finishes.
The ATHEAt launch attempt will be streamed live on Andøya Space’s Youtube-channel. You can follow us using this link: https://www.youtube.com/@andoyaspace/live
Read more about the ATHEAt flight experiment on DLR’s blog update: ATHEAt flight experiment – on the road in Norway for next generation of space transport
More information
For more information about the launch, please reach out to contact person for ATHEAt, Kolbjørn Blix.