FARGO is an intellectual continuation of Papell and deals with the use of ferrofluids to solve technical problems in space. Hence the name, Ferrofluid Research goes Orbital. Various experiments were used to apply for a place on the ISS with Überflieger 2.

SOURCE (Stuttgart Operated University Research Cubesat for Evaluation and Education) is a 3U+ CubeSat from KSat and the Institute of Space Systems (IRS), which is due to be launched in 2025. In addition to technology demonstrations and Earth observation, it uses high-resolution sensors to measure the Earth’s lower atmosphere. Valuable measurements will also be taken during its re-entry before the satellite finally burns up at the end of its life.

SOURCE-2 is the successor project to SOURCE and has recently been under development. Compared to SOURCE, SOURCE-2 will be twice the size, which will allow us to implement additional payloads and our own technologies, such as ferrofluid reaction wheels.

FerrAS (Ferrofluid Application Study) is an intellectual continuation of Papell and FARGO and deals with the use of ferrofluids to solve friction-related problems in space. The experiments are designed to explore low-friction concepts for otherwise wear-prone components on board attitude control and coolant systems. FerrAS is our fourth experiment in the REXUS program.

FINIX is part of the REXUS cycle 33/34 of the German-Swedish student program REXUS/BEXUS. The aim of this experiment is to test further space applications of ferrofluid. If all goes according to plan, our experiments will launch in 2025 on a REXUS rocket from northern Sweden, building on the successful flights of our previous ferrofluid projects PAPELL and FARGO. FINIX is our fifth and current REXUS experiment.

BUBBLE (BUoyancy Balloon Bus Lifted Experiments) is our high-altitude research balloon program. We provide the bus system that supplies an internal or external KSat payload. We also organize and carry out the launch. We also allocate payload space to our sponsors, making the project partially self-financing. To simplify payload recovery, we have developed BUBBLE into PARSEC.

PARSEC (PArafoil Recovered Stratospheric Experiment Carrier) is an advanced version of our existing BUBBLE weather balloons, on which we have been flying our own and commercial payloads for a long time. PARSEC is designed to steer the payload, which crashes after the weather balloon bursts, towards a safe landing site with the help of an autonomously operating paraglider.

ATHENE (Autonomous Terrain Handling and Environmental Navigation Experiment) is our first rover project and allows us to take the first step towards space robotics. The rover primarily serves to promote young talent and is used at numerous events to demonstrate autonomous navigation and chassis design. In the future, we would like to build on the knowledge gained from this project and take part in the European Rover Challenge with further rovers.

ROACH (Robotic in-Orbit Analysis of Cover Hulls) is our second experiment as part of the REXUS/BEXUS program. The ROACH team successfully submitted an application for the REXUS 23/24 cycle in fall 2016. The rover on board a REXUS module uses electrostatic pads to adhere to metallic road surfaces even in zero gravity. ROACH was completed in 2018; the successor project is ROACH2.

ROACH2 is the further development of our ROACH rover, which can travel on surfaces in zero gravity using electro-adhesion. Our experiment consists of two components that are installed in a sounding rocket: Our autonomous rover with electro-adhesion and an obstacle course that our rover overcomes.

With the MICU project, we developed a camera for a moon rover to make moon rocks fluoresce using UV radiation and thus identify possible minerals. MICU is intended to support the NASA “Honey, I shrunk the Payload” challenge and will be used on a small rover as part of the Artemis mission.