* Astronomy

Swedish and German university students tested a Rexus 3 sounding rocket early Wednesday morning from the Swedish Space Corporation's launch site near Kiruna.

The REXUS 3 - for Rocket-borne EXperiments for University Students - rocket took off at 07:56 in a technical test of systems to be used in the launch of a larger Maxus 7 rocket on May 2 that will expose its experiments package to microgravity for up to 14 minutes.
The rocket is an unguided solid-propellant single-stage Orion M112 Hawk, which was obtained from military surplus. The motor is a dual-thrust burner with a boost phase of 5 seconds and a sustainer phase of approximately 21 seconds. The rocket accelerates the payload for 26 seconds, with peak acceleration during the boost phase of 21 Gs. It can carry payload mass of about 100 kilograms to an apogee of approximately 110 kilometres.


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REXUS is meant to provide aerospace students with an experimental platform to gain experience in rocket design, project teamwork and management, all of which are important to their intended careers.
The program is a joint project of the Swedish Space Corporation, Esrange, and the Mobile Rocket Base of the German Aerospace Centre.

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