Portuguese rocket “Balthazar” took off into space at the competition in Santa Margarida

A team of students from the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) successfully launched a Balthazar rocket into space in the three-kilometer category as part of the European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoc), which brings together 500 university students from 11 countries. In the morning at Campo Militar de Santa Margarida in Constancia, Portuguese students, side by side with hundreds of students from other countries, finalized the final details of the rocket assembly, but the launch did not take place until the end of the day. due to organizational problems and coordination with other teams, and it was successful.

“This year we are more relaxed and confident [relativamente à edição do ano passado]we have more experience and we have improved and strengthened the technical and organizational aspects, including streamlined design,” said Pedro Rosado, a representative of the RED team, for whom “maintaining performance” was a big challenge this year. and improve the jury’s assessment – the complete restoration of the rocket, which did not happen in the last issue due to unopened parachutes.

Good news will come around 18:30. “The parachutes worked well and the rocket was recovered intact,” Pedro Rosado, 20, said. As a result, the Portuguese team was among the eight successful launches. And four of them, out of 12 rockets launched so far, either did not take off or were not restored intact.

Balthazar, the successor to the Blimund rocket launched last year and named after the work of José Saramago Memorial do Convento, was built in sections and has six modules based on carbon fiber, fiberglass, aluminum and steel. meters high, 132 millimeters in diameter and weighing 30 kilograms, including eight kilograms of used solid fuel based on potassium nitrate and sorbitol.

The 48-member RED team was established in 2017 and includes, among others, students specializing in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical and computer engineering, production management, electronic engineering, physical and technological engineering.

“In the future, I will be interested in the aerospace industry, like most of the team members, and it is good to see more and more national investment in this area,” said Pedro Rosado, who attended the 3rd year of Aerospace Engineering, highlighting “the experience gained “in this competition” and the excellent interaction with the other teams that participated in it, as well as the final result. “We are very happy, we managed to achieve all the goals we set,” said Pedro Rosado, who celebrated with the team.

The competition, organized by the Portuguese Space Agency with the support of the Municipality of Ponte de Sor and the Portuguese Army, takes place from 11 to 18 October in Ponte de Sor and the military field of Santa Margarida and is designed for the participation of 18 European teams, consisting of more than 500 students from 11 different countries. This is the 3rd edition of the university rocket launch competition in Europe, organized by the Portuguese Space Agency – Portugal Space, to encourage engineering students to design, build and launch their own “rockets” from the Santa Margarida military camp.