An experimental rocket designed by the students of ISAE-SUPAERO

The project PERSEUS, the Student Space Program developed by the CNES France aims, through conception, manufacture and launch of experimental rockets to promote student’s passion in the domain of space engineering. Additionally, it equips the students with the essential skill of team work and project management.

The club SUPAERO Space Station was the principal contributor towards the SERA-3 rockets’s mechanical and electrical conception. Moreover, a major contribution was realized on the study of trajectory and security which is primordial for ensuring a successful launch.

The rocket SERA-3 outperformed its predecessors SERA-1 and SERA-2 in terms of take off weight, however, the speed of Mach 1.4 and an altitude of 5kms remained the same. SERA-3 weighed 80Kgs and measured 5m in length at the time of launch, making it inevitably the heaviest rocket ever launched within the project PERSEUS.

Moreover, the principal innovation was materialized with the usage of 3 solid rocket propellers in place of the single propulsion system used in the previous versions which permitted this novel dimensionality. Although, this posed synchronization difficulties among the three units at the time of launch!

For more information and discover the images of the nominal flight, please visit the page Facebook PERSEUS.