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WARR (German: Wissenschaftliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Raketentechnik und Raumfahrt, English: Scientific Workgroup for Rocketry and Space Flight) is a student group at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Founded in 1962 by Robert Schmucker, its initial objective was to compensate for TUM’s lack of an institute astronautics. In 1966, the university established such an institute, allowing WARR to focus on the practical aspects of space flight, as opposed to the theoretical. Today, the objective of the student group is to enable students from various fields of study to apply their theoretical knowledge and gain practical experience. One of WARR’s greatest achievements to date is the construction and launch of the first German hybrid rocket called Barbarella, on 12 March 1974, which is now displayed in the German Museum in Munich.
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Rocketry
Existing since the foundation of WARR in 1962, the department for rocketry is the oldest project group of WARR. With the launch of the first German hybrid rocket in 1974, WARR achieved its first major success, which was promptly followed by the construction of multiple test engines. In 2009 the development of its next rocket began, called WARR-Ex2, powered by the in-house developed hybrid engine HYPER-1 with solid HTPB fuel and nitrous oxide as oxidizer. The rocket was successfully launched on 20th of May 2015 from the missile base CLBI on the Atlantic coast of Brazil and reached a maximal altitude of approximately 5 km. Even before the launch of WARR-Ex2, WARR had begun working on its successor, WARR-Ex3, as part of project STERN (STudentische Experimental-RaketeN) (German abbreviation for “student experimental rocketry”), organized and financed by the German Aerospace Center. As the given objectives of STERN were already reached within WARR-Ex2, it was decided to build a larger rocket, which should break the European altitude record for student rockets, counting 21.5 km for now. To reach this goal, the WARR-Ex 3 will use liquid oxygen instead of nitrous oxide, while maintaining the use of HTPB. The launch of WARR-Ex3 is currently planned for the beginning of 2017.
Satellite Technology
Since the cubesat First-MOVE was primarily developed by doctoral candidates from the institute of astronautics at the TUM, the involvement of students was intensified during the development of its successor MOVE-II. To make use of WARR’s existing infrastructure, a new project group was founded, where the members could work on all subsystems. In 2012, development of a mission profile was started. After approval by the German Aerospace Center in 2015, launch of the satellite is expected in 2017.
MOVE-II is a 10x10x20 cm big satellite (2U-Cubesat). It consists of a bus on the one side, which is responsible for power supply, communication and attitude control, and a scientific payload on the other side. This is going to be a particle detector for antiprotons developed by the Department of Physics at TUM.
Space-Elevator
WARR Space-Elevator is developing climber robots since its founding in 2006, and also organizes corresponding competitions. The first climber was developed for the JSETEC2009 competition and reached the targeted 150 m in the shortest time. In 2011 the European Space Elevator Challenge (EUSPEC) was established, which also focused on energy efficiency. Following that year the competition was repeated with increased cable length of 50 m.
Interstellar Flight
The WARR Interstellar Flight Team (ISF) is working on concepts for interstellar travel. The goals of WARR ISF are:
In May 2013 the “Ghost Team” of WARR ISF participated in Project Icarus. The name “Ghost” derives from the sudden appearance of the team in the competition and resulting in confusion of the other participants. WARR presented its concept at the British Interplanetary Society in October 2013 and was awarded for the best design among 4 internation teams.
In October 2014 begun development of a laser propelled interstellar probe for the Project Dragonfly Design Competition, held by the Initiative for Interstellar Studies (I4IS). The WARR team could prevail in this competition against international competitors, too.
Hyperloop
In August 2015 the project group Hyperloop was founded to participate in the Hyperloop Pod Competition held by SpaceX. In January 2016, WARR’s was one of 30 international teams selected (from a pool of over 700 initially participating) to build a functional prototype for the final phase of the competition in summer of 2016.
As of June 2016, the prototype developed by WARR was intended to feature an electrodynamic suspension system to levitate and an axial compressor to minimize aerodynamic drag from the residual air inside the tube.[source needs translation]
The WARR pod was the fastest in the January 2017 competition.