Red Kite Sounding Rocket Motor - Qualification and Application Spectrum

Abstract

The Red Kite© is a commercially available, solid propellant sounding rocket motor primarily designed as a powerful booster for military surplus and commercial second stages. Typical payloads will range between 200-600 kg. When used in a mission design tailored to microgravity research, typical apogees range between 250-350 km, while the needs of the hypersonic community can be met by a suppressed trajectory design, typically providing horizontal flight at Mach numbers between 6-9 in the altitude band 30-60 km. Following a Phase A definition study in 2017, the German Aerospace Center DLR contracted Bayern Chemie GmbH in 2020 for the development and manufacturing. Subsequent to preliminary design and materials selection phase, ground testing of mechanical, pyrotechnical and electrical subsystems was conducted. Finally, two full scale qualification motors were successfully test-fired in August 2023 at ESRANGE Space Center. Serial production of initially 30 units was initiated and the first motor released for a maiden flight from Andøya Space Center in November 2023, proving the design in flight successfully. The paper gives a summary of the motor performance, aspects of the system design, the qualification program and its application spectrum in active and future sounding rocket vehicles.