A lecture by the Munich University of Applied Sciences drew our attention to the REXUS/BEXUS programme that enables students of European colleges and universities to place scientific/technical experiments on board sounding rockets and research balloons to carry out their own experiments under real conditions of the upper atmosphere (BEXUS) or in space under the influence of microgravity and high vacuum (REXUS).

Excited by the opportunity to participate in a scientific space-flight project during, the aerospace engineering students Ludwig Staab, Niklas Fromm and Pietro Ignoto joined forces as founding members of the team.

The newly founded team met with Prof. Dr.-Ing. Markus Pietras of the Munich University of Applied Sciences. Together with him, the team worked out a concept for an experiment to investigate fiber composites that could be unfolded via gas pressure and rigidized in space through UV light.

Dr. Thomas Sinn, founder of Deployables Cubed and colleague of Prof. Pietras refered Nico Reichenbach, a PhD student at the University of Auckland and specialist in the field of deployable structures to the newly founded team as Systems Engineer.

After the now strengthened team had convinced Prof. Piertras and Dr. Sinn of the seriousness of their interest in participating in the REXUS program, they took over the role of supervisors of the team.

But it quickly became clear that the team should be expanded by further members in order to be able to achieve the goals we have set ourselfs. After a quick announcement Adrian Hettler, Johannes Ernstberger, Petros Karafyllis and Carlo Riester, also students of aerospace engineering joined the now completed team.