Advanced Rocket Research Center Explained

Advanced Rocket Research Center 國立陽明交通大學前瞻火箭研究中心
Type:	Research institute
Foundation:	April 2012
Location:	Hsinchu City, Taiwan
Key People:	Jong-Shinn Wu (Director)
Industry:	R&D
Products:	space transport
Num Employees:	45
Homepage:	http://arrc.tw/

The Advanced Rocket Research Center (ARRC;) is a Taiwanese space transport research organization headquartered at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu City, Taiwan, with a research focus in hybrid rockets.^{[1] [2] [3]} Founded in April 2012, ARRC is supported by research grants and private donors through crowdsourcing platforms.^{[4] [5]}

Introduction

ARRC is jointly organized by multiple universities in Taiwan. It was established at National Chiao Tung University in June 2012 and funded by corporate and private donations.

The main participants include Distinguished Professor Jong-Shinn Wu, Professor from National Chiao Tung University, Associate Professor Ming-Tzu Ho from National Cheng Kung University, Professor Hui-Wen Hu from National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Professor Hsin-Piao Lin from National Taipei University of Technology, Assistant Professor Jen-Perng Yu from Ming Chuan University, and Assistant Professor Juan-Chen Haung from National Taiwan Ocean University. Jong-Shinn Wu is now the chairman of the group.

Test Project

APPL

The APPL is a kind of solid rocket that uses sugar with an oxidizer as fuel. This type of rocket is also known as a sugar rocket. APPL is named after the Aerothermal & Plasma Physics Laboratory in National Chiao Tung University, which began to develop and manufacture small rockets under the leadership of Professor Jong-Shinn Wu in 2007. Because sugar rockets are safe and easy to manufacture, and also produce less pollution, they were the first type of rocket made by the group.Since ARRC was formally established in 2012, APPL rockets have been used in tests of several secondary systems in large rockets, so that the systems can be applied to the HTTP Hybrid Rocket.^[6]

• APPL-0 alpha On Jun 22, 2008, the first flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu. The rocket successfully lifted off. However, due to excessive force being applied to the cone, the cone broke and the parachute was deployed early.^[7]
• APPL-0 beta On Jun 22, 2008, the second flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu. The rocket broke apart on the launch tower after ignition.^[8]
• APPL-1 also called APPL-I. On Jan 18, 2009, the third flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu. The rocket successfully lifted off. The parachute did not open completely, yet the rocket still landed. The maximum height was 835 meters.^[9]
• APPL-2 also called APPL-II. On Jun 28, 2009, the fourth flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu. APPL-2 was a multistage rocket with solid fuel as the propellant. After the first stage booster was exhausted and separated, the second stage was successfully ignited. However, the rocket flew far off course, and couldn't be retrieved.^[10]
• APPL-3 also called APPL-III. On Sep 7, 2009, the fifth flight test of ARRC was held at Changhua Coastal Industrial Park. One of the boosters malfunctioned, causing the rocket to explode a short time after launching.^[11]
• APPL-4 also called APPL-IV. On Jan 24, 2011, the seventh flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu. The rocket successfully lifted off, but the parachute did not open upon landing. The maximum height was about 500 meters.^{[12] [13]}
• APPL-5 1 also called APPL-V 1. On Mar 10, 2011, the eighth flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu. One booster malfunctioned and caused the rocket to explode shortly after launch, similar to what had happened during the APPL-3 test.^[14]
• APPL-5 2 also called APPL-V 2. On Mar 10, 2011, the ninth flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu. The rocket successfully lifted off and separated, but the parachute didn't completely open on landing.^[15]
• APPL-6 also called APPL-VI. On May 9, 2011, the tenth flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu. The connector between the rocket and the launch tower broke, so it didn't launch, but instead, it stayed on the launch tower until the fuel was exhausted.^{[16] [17]}
• APPL-6 2 also called APPL-VI 2. On Jun 24, 2011, the eleventh flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu. The rocket successfully lifted off but failed to separate because of a malfunctioning v-band.^{[18] [19]}
• APPL-mini 1 was a small solid-sugar rocket developed for the camp ^[20] organized by the National Space Organization. It was a small rocket without electrical control. There were in total 12 APPL-mini 1 small rockets made by both students and lecturers launched in 青青草原 on Jul 20, 2012. It was the fourteenth flight test of ARRC.^[21]
• APPL-mini 2 was a small solid-sugar rocket developed for the camp^[22] organized by the National Space Organization. It was a small rocket without electrical control. There were in total 11 APPL-mini 2 small rockets made by both students and lecturers launched in 青青草原 on Jul 18, 2013. Some rockets had a smartphone installed inside them to record altitude, distance traveled, speed, and other information.^[23]
• APPL-Banan 1 On Sep 1, 2013, the sixteenth flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu. The rocket was carried to the air by a balloon with a diameter of 3 meters and expected to release at 1000 meters high. However, the rope used to connect the balloon and the rocket was loose and the rocket dropped at 30 meters above the ground. The aim of the test was to examine the parachute recovery system.^[24]
• APPL-7 On Nov 9, 2013, the seventeenth flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu. The rocket successfully lifted off but the recovery system didn't work as expected, leading to the rocket crashing.^[25]
• APPL-7 II On Dec 28, 2013, the eighteenth flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu. This time the rocket used 2 reserve parachutes and 1 main parachute recovery system. The rocket successfully lifted off and the parachutes opened sequentially.^[26]
• APPL-8 On Jan 26, 2014, the nineteenth flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu. The rocket successfully lifted off and the maximum height was almost 1000 meters.^[27]
• APPL-9 α On Jan 4, 2015, the twenty-first flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu. APPL-9 was a two-stage rocket. The first stage was a sugar rocket and the second stage was a hybrid rocket with nitrous oxide as an oxidizer. The body tube of the rocket was 3D-printed and the nose cone was made from fiberglass.^[28] There was an issue with the first stage, leading to it exploding during ignition. The second stage was ignited after the explosion and flew some distance away. All of the three parachutes deployed. The aim of this test was to test the avionics on the rocket.^[29]
• APPL-9 ß On Apr 18, 2015, the twenty-second flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu.^[30] Due to the failure of APPL-9 Alpha, ARRC used PLA in the 3D printed body tube and reinforced the tube with fiberglass.^{[31] [32] [33]} The rocket successfully lifted off but didn't separate due to a malfunction of the v-band. For safety reasons, the second stage didn't ignite. It was found that two explosive bolts failed to separate. The parachute was deployed successfully.^[34]
• APPL-9 C On Jan 31, 2016, the twenty-third flight test of ARRC was held at Siangshan Wetland, Hsinchu. ARRC made a small two-stage rocket with a similar configuration tp APPL-9 alpha and APPL-9 beta.^[35] This was used to test some of the secondary systems used in HTTP-3, including the avionics system and separation devices. The body tube was made from the same materials as the body tube of APPL-9 Beta. The first stage was a solid rocket, fueled by sugar and an oxidizer. The second stage was a hybrid rocket with Nitrous Oxide as the liquid oxidizer and polyethylene as the fuel. The total weight of the rocket was about 27 kg.^{[36] [37]} The rocket successfully lifted off and separated, but the parachute on the first stage failed to deploy. The three parachutes on the second stage deployed successfully. The maximum height was about 1100 meters.^{[38] [39]}
• APPL 10 launched on Dec 1, 2018. The rocket was 3.2 meters long and had a diameter of 0.156 meters. The total weight was 30 kg and the maximum height was around 1000 meters.^[40] APPL 10 failed during separation and didn't reach the expected height.^[41]

HTTP

HTTP is a sounding rocket (a rocket carrying scientific instruments). HTTP is named after four cities that the cooperative universities are located at, which are Hsinchu (National Chiao Tung University), Taipei (National Taipei University of Technology), Tainan (National Cheng Kung University), and Pingtung (National Pingtung University of Science and Technology). Furthermore, the chairman of ARRC Professor Jong-Shinn Wu associated the HTTP rocket with the Hypertext Transfer Protocol and indicated that as with the Internet, the possibilities of the HTTP rocket could be unlimited.^[42]

• HTTP-1 On Sep 16, 2010, the sixth flight test of ARRC was held at the east coast of Pingtung. This was the first test of a hybrid rocket for ARRC and the first in Taiwan. The test aimed to adjust thrust by changing the amount of the oxidizer in the engine.^{[43] [44]}
• HTTP-2 α On Sep 3, 2011, the twelfth flight test of ARRC was held at the east coast of Pingtung. HTTP-2 α was a two-stage rocket, where the first stage provided the thrust and the second stage was equipped with avionics. At the first launch, the throttle was stuck, and the rocket didn't operate properly. There were attempts to fix the problem, but the throttle stayed stuck, and the test was canceled eventually.^[45]
• HTTP-2ß On Sep 7, 2013, the sixteenth flight test of ARRC was held at the east coast of Pingtung. HTTP-2β was a two-stage rocket. The first stage was a hybrid rocket engine which provided thrust; while the second stage contained avionics. A UAV was used to record the test. Two seconds after launch, the rocket lost connection with the ground for an unknown reason.^{[46] [47]}
• HTTP-3S On Mar 24, 2014, the twentieth flight test of ARRC was held at the east coast of Pingtung. Under the support of Ministry of Science and Technology (Taiwan), National Space Organization, National Chiao Tung University, and Taiwan Typhoon and Flood Research Institute, HTTP-3S was the largest rocket developed by ARRC. The rocket was 6.35 meters long and 0.4 meters in diameter. It could fly over 10,000 meters. This test was to examine the performance of each secondary system at high velocity.^[48]
• HTTP-3A is the ongoing project of ARRC. The project involves the development of a fully hybrid orbital rocket.^[49] HTTP-3A flew on July 10, 2022 for a test of its second stage.^[50]

Launches

On 24 March 2014, ARRC tested the HTTP-3S rocket near the coastline of Pingtung County. The HTTP-3S rocket was one of the largest hybrid sounding rockets launched in Taiwan, with a length of 6.35 m, a diameter of 0.4 m, and weight of 300 kg. It was propelled by a hybrid engine which used nitrous oxide as an oxidizer. The engine was capable of delivering of thrust (with I_sp up to 250 seconds). The goal of the HTTP-3S launch was to test the functions of all subsystems during high-speed flight. The flight data gathered during the launch was used for the second stages rocket design of future dual-stage sounding rockets and the validation of launch site safety measures.^{[51] [52] [53] [54] [55]}

On 18 April 2015, ARRC tested the APPL-9β sounding rocket at the Siangshan Wetland in Hsinchu City. The APPL-9β rocket was propelled by solid fuel in the first stage and a hybrid fuel in the second stage. The casing was 3D-printed, and made of PLA. The rocket carried a test satellite made by the National Central University.^[56]

Popular culture

The band Mayday wrote their song Tough about ARRC engineer Jong-Shinn Wu.^[57]

See also

• NewSpace
• TiSPACE

External links

• • SciMu crowdsourcing campaign

Notes and References

1. Web site: 太空科技大突破！專訪臺灣學界自製的大型混合式探空火箭 . 2015-04-16 . 2015-07-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150710170337/http://pansci.tw/archives/67974 . dead .
2. http://www.ettoday.net/news/20150107/447221.htm 318學運一戰成名，讓新創團隊無後顧之憂
3. Web site: 一群瘋狂科學家 讓台灣在太空留名 . 2015-04-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150416085143/http://www.cna.com.tw/magazine/7-1/201502050023-1.aspx?category=Magazine . 2015-04-16 . dead .
4. http://udn.com/news/story/7609/835393-%E4%BA%A4%E5%A4%A7%E5%A4%A2%E6%83%B3%E8%AE%93%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E4%B8%8A%E5%A4%AA%E7%A9%BA-%E5%8D%BB%E8%A6%81%E4%B8%8D%E5%88%B0%E6%94%BF%E5%BA%9C%E7%B6%93%E8%B2%BB 交大夢想讓台灣上太空 卻要不到政府經費
5. Web site: APPL News . 2015-04-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150415143742/http://www.appltw.org/ . 2015-04-15 . dead .
6. https://archive.today/20150224070406/https://zh-tw.facebook.com/ApplRocket APPL-Rocket
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uHQ7GBU0lU 20080622 APPL-0 alpha
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQJ7lujRFK8 20080622 APPL-0 beta
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xynzyQC_-Hg 20090118 APPL-I Rocket test
10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZQq3UjVLMc 20090628 APPL-II Rocket test
11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rtDY2o087I 20090907 APPL-III Rocket test (降落傘很成功~)
12. http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/local/paper/462744 〈北部〉交大小火箭 敗在降落傘…
13. http://www.me.nctu.edu.tw/doc/news.php?Sn=1038 蔗糖當燃料 飛行500公尺 降落傘卻沒開 交大機械所 火箭試射半成功
14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVT48mZ0bNs&list=PLltcU5MWlSgIaPFzFbyUfneDSCxw5cmom&index=2 獨立特派員193集
15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpSkyEmzbfE 20110310 APPL-V2 Rocket test
16. http://news.pts.org.tw/detail.php?NEENO=178810 4所大學試射小型火箭 宣告失敗
17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLted0UpeTU 交大蔗糖火箭發射失敗
18. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-ulQKORVEo 20110624 APPL-VI 2 Rocket test
19. http://pansci.tw/archives/67974 太空科技大突破！專訪臺灣學界自製的大型混合式探空火箭【團隊篇】
20. http://www.nspo.narl.org.tw/sseo/2012/explore 2012年全國高中職太空科技探索營
21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmY4gAHq5ac 國研院太空中心 - 2012年全國高中職太空科技探索營
22. http://www.nspo.narl.org.tw/sseo/2013/explore 2013年全國高中職太空科技探索營
23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gTLDatul40 2013年全國高中職太空科技探索營7月18日 火箭發射總集
24. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.508892245858767.1073741829.489213814493277&type=3 20130901 APPL Banan-1新竹香山濕地測試
25. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41bQ6Q4naJU 20131109 APPL 7 sugar rocket launch
26. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQSK3xAqGFQ 20131228 APPL-7 II Sugar Rocket Launch
27. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AJq8r99y-Y 20140126 APPL-8 Sugar Rocket Flight Test
28. https://archive.today/20150223154050/https://www.facebook.com/ApplRocket/posts/752002664881056?reply_comment_id=752044858210170&total_comments=1 這次APPL-9將採用全3D列印外殼
29. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjEFBD_-kXU 20150104 APPL-9 2-stage Rocket Flight Test
30. https://www.facebook.com/ARRCRocket/posts/688528807958995
31. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjEFBD_-kXU 20150104 APPL-9 2-stage Rocket Flight Test
32. https://www.facebook.com/ARRCRocket/posts/625059914305885?comment_id=625295370949006&offset=0&total_comments=14 今年初我們去新竹海邊測試了APPL-9雙節火箭
33. Web site: ARRC.
34. http://pansci.tw/archives/78522
35. Web site: Taiwan-made rocket lifts off in Hsinchu City . taiwantoday.tw . Taiwan Today . 4 August 2019. February 2016.
36. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.829181127227095.1073741853.332899113521968&type=3 20160131 APPL-9C 新竹香山發射
37. http://theme.udn.com/theme/story/6774/1480878 【360影片】搭火箭飛天 你從沒看過的美景
38. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiTHbaTG-_k 20160131 APPL-9C 2-stage Rocket Flight Test (Brief type)
39. https://www.facebook.com/ARRCRocket/posts/829228770555664 前瞻火箭研究中心APPL-9C雙節小火箭順利升空回收
40. Web site: ARRC . 20181201 APPL-10 發射倒數! . Facebook . 2018-11-29.
41. News: 魯鋼駿 . ARRC火箭新竹岸際試射 千人觀看臉書直播[影] ]. 2018-12-02 . 中央通訊社.
42. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVT48mZ0bNs&list=PLltcU5MWlSgIaPFzFbyUfneDSCxw5cmom&index=2 獨立特派員193集
43. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR_I23IPBsQ Formosa HTTP-1 Hybrid Rocket Test Flight with Pulsed Thrust on September 16, 2010.
44. Web site: Teng . Cathy . An Engineer's Dreams of Space . www.taiwan-panorama.com . Taiwan Panorama . 4 August 2019.
45. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okmq3MsHR18 獨立特派員第217集
46. http://www.pac.nctu.edu.tw/News/news_more.php?id=699 交通大學與北科大、成大、屏科大、太空中心探空火箭研發合作
47. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFceRnIO36w ARRC HTTP-2beta Hybrid Rocket Flight Test on September 7, 2013
48. News: 跨校團隊自製探空火箭試飛成功. 2014-04-01. PanSci 泛科學. 2017-03-09. zh-TW.
49. Web site: ARRC｜Advanced Rocket Research Center.
50. Web site: Yi-ning . Tseng . Mazzetta . Matthew . Taiwan conducts test launch of hybrid sounding rocket . focustaiwan.tw . Focus Taiwan . 10 July 2022.
51. http://pansci.tw/archives/58159 跨校團隊自製探空火箭試飛成功
52. http://pansci.tw/archives/73217 太空科技大突破！專訪臺灣學界自製的大型混合式探空火箭
53. http://technews.tw/2014/11/05/http-3-rocket/ 逐鹿太空 火箭男孩讓臺灣自製火箭登上國際舞台
54. http://sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-16663 Developing the HTTP-3S Sounding Rocket Avionics and Ground Station System
55. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT3HOhtGJWk ARRC HTTP-3S Hybrid Rocket Flight Test (2014 NI Paper Context Version)
56. Web site: ARRC試射小火箭 80%成功 . 2015-04-21 . 2015-07-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150708234152/http://pansci.tw/archives/78522 . dead .
57. Web site: An Engineer's Dreams of Space—Gou Chongsin Boosts Taiwanese Rocketry . nspp.mofa.gov.tw . MOFA . 20 February 2020.