MAPHEUS-1: Vehicle, Subsystem Design, Flight Performance And Experiments

There are numerous materials science experiments in microgravity, which can be realized on sounding rockets, e.g. the gelation of aerogels, directional solidification of alloys and diffusion measurements in metallic melts. Such a rocket must offer a period of good microgravity-conditions for more than 120 s. The MAPHEUS (Materialphysikalische Experimente unter Schwerelosigkeit) rocket of the German Aerospace Center DLR meets these requirements. This paper gives an overview on the MAPHEUS-1 vehicle, the experiments, the successful maiden flight of the rate-control-system and the campaign. The paper includes first flight results and it gives an outlook on the MAPHEUS programme