Portuguese team successfully launches and recovers rocket at EuRoC
The team RED, from Instituto Superior Técnico, launched their second rocket at the European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC). They became the first Portuguese team to successfully launch and recover their rocket.
The Portuguese team RED (Rocket Experiment Division) successfully launched and recovered its “Baltasar” rocket yesterday at the European Rocketry Challenge – EuRoC, at the Santa Margarida Military Camp, in Constância. The team, from Instituto Superior Técnico, participated for the third consecutive year in the rocket launching competition for European university students, promoted by the Portuguese Space Agency.
The “Baltasar” rocket was launched at an altitude of 3,000 meters at Campo Militar de Santa Margarida and was later successfully recovered. Pedro Rosado, the coordinator of RED, reveals that the team is “very happy with the successful launch of the rocket this year”. “The experience of previous years allowed us to perfect several elements in our rocket to improve its performance and, obviously, achieve the desired goal, which was to launch it and recover it intact. We are very proud.”
Made up of 48 members, the RED team was created in 2017 and its structure reflects the multidisciplinary nature of Space: the participants’ backgrounds include mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical and computer engineering, electronic engineering, and physical and technological engineering.
So far, 12 launches have been carried out at Campo Militar de Santa Margarida, from the 18 teams in the competition. The closing ceremony and prize-giving ceremony will take place on October 18th, at the Ponte de Sor Aerodrome, at 2:00 pm, and will be attended by the vice-president of the Portuguese Space Agency, Eduardo Ferreira, and representatives of the partner entities, namely the Municipality of Ponte de Sor and the Portuguese Army.
