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In April 2012, the German Aerospace Center DLR initiated a sponsorship program for university students to develop, build and launch their own rockets over a period of three years. The program designation STERN was abbreviated from the German “STudentische Experimental-RaketeN”, which translates to Student- Experimental-Rockets. The primary goal of the STERN program is to inspire students in the subject of space transportation through hands-on activities within a project structure, to motivate universities to supervise and support the student projects with the help of financial support and to increase the lecture activities in the field of launcher and propulsion systems. The STERN program incorporates a space mission project life cycle, including preliminary, critical, integration and acceptance reviews, a thorough integration and testing campaign, launch and follow up activities. The program is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) and managed through the DLR Space Administration. The first STERN cycle is now almost finished. During the first cycle more than 460 students (status: February 2016) have been involved in the program. Furthermore eight rockets have been launched during three campaigns. The paper presents an overview of its hands-on activities, highlights technical results and the operational improvements over the years. |
