During his degree course Embedded Systems Engineering (ESE), Jan Stammes worked on the project Cubesat* of HAN researcher Erik Folgering. With Erik’s help, Jan managed to join the Radboud University as a graduation intern for a follow-up project. And look what Jan is doing now as a Radboud University student in his role as project leader!

What is Jan currently doing?

Together with a team of researchers and students of Radboud Nijmegen (Astrophysics) and Eindhoven University of Technology (PR4 Space), Jan is going to determine the position of a rocket within a few centimetres, live during its entire flight. The ultimate test will be executed during an experimental rocket launch in Sweden in March 2023. With their method – up to 10 times more accurate than with GPS – rockets may be better steered to land at the right place. They also measure the arrival direction of cosmic rays.

* The Cubesat Student Project took a concrete step forward in 2018, with support from SEECE. A satellite would be used to investigate the conditions of a future manned journey to Mars. During the trip, astronauts will grow their own food and generate sustainable (solar) energy but they need to be protected from cosmic radiation.

PR4 Space is allowed to participate in REXUS, how does this work?
PR4 Space is one of the projects selected to take part in the European REXUS programme. This involves two rockets being launched annually, each containing up to five experiments from student teams from different countries. Jan Stammes: “We made it through the selection for the second time. This is certainly not obvious, as there are many teams from all over Europe taking part.”

What experiments will PR4 Space be doing?
The rocket will be launched from Esrange in the north of Sweden. The rocket is expected to stay airborne for about 15 minutes and reaches an altitude of 80 to 100 kilometres. The goal of PR4 Space is to do 2 experiments during the flight:

• an accurate positioning
• a radiation measurement

Which technique will be used?
The positioning method developed by the team makes use of radio interferometry. With this technique, three antennae are used to transmit radio signals at slightly different frequencies from the rocket. These signals are received on the ground by six self-designed ground stations around the launching site.

“Based on the phase differences between the arriving signals, we can recognise the location of the rocket”, explains Jan. “What is new now is that we can track the rocket live with this new technique. The location of the rocket is measured 1000 times per second, so it can be determined to the nearest centimetre – up to 10 times more accurate than GPS!”

What else is being investigated?
In addition to positioning, the researchers will also experiment with measuring radiation from space on the rocket. A detector will be used to try to determine the direction of arrival of cosmic rays. For this, the team uses the results of the radio interferometry experiment, so that the location and orientation of the rocket can be checked very precisely at any moment during the measurement. Later, the team wants to investigate whether there is a link between this radiation and cloud formation.