INCREDIBLY
The University of Applied Sciences Jena – Off to a flying start
GAME – Glider for Atmospheric Measurements & Experiments: This is the name of an interdisciplinary experiment carried out by 15 students at the University of Applied Sciences Jena, launched at a rocket base in Lapland, Sweden. The launch was initiated in the presence of eight of the students and a professor of the university. Amongst them were two of the “smart minds” of the 15 project participants, Franz Lübke and Adrian Zentgraf, who were completing their master’s degrees in the field of aerospace electronics. The aim of the project was to send a rocket transporting a glider equipped with sensors into outer space, and to return it to a stable flight at re-entry of the atmosphere. The small glider detached from the rocket at an altitude of 80 km and then began its journey back to Earth.
The University of Applied Sciences Jena – Reaching new heights
With this project, the team hoped to test a platform that would extend the time available for experiments in the atmosphere. The results were entirely successful. Instead of the standard 10 minutes of flight duration at high altitudes, the small glider sailed 30 minutes until finally landing. To achieve this result, Johannes Gründig (studying precision engineering at the university) had developed a glider made of extremely lightweight yet highly durable materials, these being Depron, aramid and glass fibre.
The University of Applied Sciences Jena – Opening up new possibilities
The highly encouraging results of the experiment, which was conducted as part of a bilateral agreement between the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and the Swedish National Space Board (SNB), open up opportunities for future research in this field. Aside from offering other project participants the possibility of writing master’s theses on the subject, the project also raised the interest of other scientific institutions, including a space medicine specialist from Switzerland who would like to investigate the influence of cosmic radiation on DNA.
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Dienerowitz
- Franz Lübke
- Adrian Zentgraf
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Dienerowitz
- Franz Lübke
- Adrian Zentgraf
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