TY - GEN

T1 - The MAIUS sounding rocket missions-recent results, lessons learned and future activities

AU - Grosse, Jens

AU - Seidel, Stephan Tobias

AU - Lachmann, Maike Diana

AU - Becker, Dennis

AU - Wenzlawski, André

AU - Schkolnik, Vladimir

AU - Dinkelaker, Aline Nathalie

AU - Hellmig, Ortwin

AU - Müntinga, Hauke

AU - Elsen, Michael

AU - Ahlers, Holger

AU - Weps, Benjamin

AU - Wendrich, Thijs

AU - Stamminger, Andreas

AU - Krutzik, Markus

AU - Peters, Achim

AU - Windpassinger, Patrick

AU - Rasel, Ernst M.

AU - Braxmaier, Claus

N1 - Funding information: The QUANTUS project is a collaboration of LU Hannover, HU Berlin, U Hamburg, JGU Mainz, U Ulm, TU Darmstadt, FBH Berlin, U Birmingham, DLR RY Bremen, DLR MORABA, DLR SC and ZARM at U Bremen. It is supported by the German Space Agency DLR with funds provided by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) under grant numbers DLR 50WM 1131-1137.

PY - 2017/9

Y1 - 2017/9

N2 - The QUANTUS consortium started activities to perform atom interferometry on a sounding rocket in the year 2011. Three sounding rocket missions (MAIUS-1 to 3) have been planned to demonstrate Bose-Einstein condensation and atom interferometry with rubidium and potassium atoms. Two different payloads MAIUS-A and MAIUS-B are being designed, qualified and integrated in the time frame from 2011 until 2020. The MAIUS-A scientific payload demonstrated the first Bose-Einstein Condensates in Space in the challenging environment aboard a two-staged VSB-30 sounding rocket on the 23rd of January 2017. In order to achieve this ambitious scientific goal the experiment used various sensitive instruments imposing strong requirements on the thermal and mechanical design of the scientific payload. This paper gives a summary of the MAIUS-A and MAIUS-B scientific payload design. Furthermore, the lessons learned from the MAIUS-1 maiden flight as well as the integration and testing activities and their impact on the MAIUS-B scientific payload design are presented. The paper closes with an outlook on future atom interferometry payloads on sounding rockets and beyond.

AB - The QUANTUS consortium started activities to perform atom interferometry on a sounding rocket in the year 2011. Three sounding rocket missions (MAIUS-1 to 3) have been planned to demonstrate Bose-Einstein condensation and atom interferometry with rubidium and potassium atoms. Two different payloads MAIUS-A and MAIUS-B are being designed, qualified and integrated in the time frame from 2011 until 2020. The MAIUS-A scientific payload demonstrated the first Bose-Einstein Condensates in Space in the challenging environment aboard a two-staged VSB-30 sounding rocket on the 23rd of January 2017. In order to achieve this ambitious scientific goal the experiment used various sensitive instruments imposing strong requirements on the thermal and mechanical design of the scientific payload. This paper gives a summary of the MAIUS-A and MAIUS-B scientific payload design. Furthermore, the lessons learned from the MAIUS-1 maiden flight as well as the integration and testing activities and their impact on the MAIUS-B scientific payload design are presented. The paper closes with an outlook on future atom interferometry payloads on sounding rockets and beyond.

KW - Atom interferometry

KW - Cold atoms

KW - MAIUS

KW - Sounding rocket

KW - Thermal control system

KW - VSB-30

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85051484637&partnerID=8YFLogxK

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:85051484637

SN - 9781510855373

T3 - Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC

SP - 2258

EP - 2263

BT - 68th International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2017

PB - International Astronautical Federation, IAF

T2 - 68th International Astronautical Congress: Unlocking Imagination, Fostering Innovation and Strengthening Security, IAC 2017

Y2 - 25 September 2017 through 29 September 2017

ER -