On August 2, Tamkang University’s Department of Aerospace Engineering successfully launched the university’s fifth rocket, Stargazer, at the Xuhai Rocket Launch Site. The team was invited to conduct a special demonstration launch at the Taiwan Space Agency’s (TASA) Taiwan Cup Rocket Competition, while also using the mission to pave the way for the development of a staged rocket next year.

The mission marked the first launch under a TASA research rocket project undertaken by Tamkang’s Space Technology Laboratory (STL) following the successful launches of four solid-propellant rockets. Invited to participate as a demonstration team, Tamkang was given the finale slot at the competition. Designed with different challenges based on participants’ ages and backgrounds, the competition featured the Student 1K, Student 3K, and Open 3K categories, attracting 71 teams and 859 participants and fueling growing enthusiasm for rocketry across Taiwan.

Another highlight of the competition was the use of RNX solid propellant developed by Tamkang University in the competition’s standardized rocket motors. The achievement demonstrates Tamkang’s research and development capabilities and its contribution, as a university, to Taiwan’s sounding rocket program. Professor Kuan Ouyang of the Department of Aerospace Engineering, an STL faculty advisor for the launch mission, explained that over the past two years, Tamkang has carried out TASA-commissioned research projects involving the application of RNX solid propellant to rocket propulsion. The team successfully verified the feasibility and safety of this previously controversial propellant. In November last year, the TKU-II rocket successfully reached an altitude of more than seven kilometers, demonstrating that RNX, which is relatively inexpensive compared with liquid propellants, is suitable for research rocket applications.

Ouyang explained that the team successfully verified three key objectives during the Stargazer mission: successful parachute deployment and full inflation; complete acquisition of transmitted avionics data and imagery; and recovery of the rocket body with almost no damage. Using the competition’s standardized rocket motor, the rocket also reached an altitude of 2,956 meters, closely matching its design altitude of three kilometers.

Professor Fu-Yuen Hsiao of the Department of Aerospace Engineering, who supervised the avionics system, said the team also took advantage of the demonstration launch to validate technologies required for next year’s staged rocket, including the design of a new-generation avionics system and the effects of control surfaces on rocket stability. He praised the STL team for its performance throughout the mission, noting that each task was executed with a high degree of precision. Indian student Harish Sundareswaran, who joined the laboratory through the Taiwan Experience Education Program (TEEP), also played an important role in the mission. With previous experience in designing rocket avionics systems, Harish worked alongside local students to develop the new-generation avionics system. His time in Taiwan also allowed him to participate directly in a small sounding rocket project and experience Taiwan’s higher education environment. “I am very happy to be part of this project and to work with such an amazing team,” he said.

Department Chair Chien-Chun Hung expressed special appreciation to the project’s long-term corporate sponsors—SINBON Electronics, QST International, Skwentex International, and WIN Semiconductors—for their continued support of the Department’s research projects. He emphasized that the support of these alumni-affiliated companies provides an important and sustained source of momentum for the Department of Aerospace Engineering’s ongoing research and development.

SDGs #SDG04 Quality Education #SDG09 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure #SDG17 Partnerships for the Goals

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