GORMLEY, Ontario CAN — On April 28th, a Spaceloft™XL rocket successfully completed a round-trip space flight that started at Spaceport America in Las Cruces, New Mexico. This rocket was developed by UP Aerospace Inc. of Hartford, Connecticut and carried a wide variety of scientific experiments and payloads, as well as the cremated remains of notable individuals.  The flight marked the first successful flight from the spaceport.

Cesaroni test session of the UPA-264-C motor design.

The two most recognizable individuals to have their cremated remains ejected into space were Star Trek's "Scotty", James Doohan as well as NASA astronaut and pioneer Gordon Cooper.  In addition, the cremated remains of more than 200 other people from all walks of life were onboard. The SL-2 Mission also included dozens of student experiments from elementary schools to high schools to universities - from across America and worldwide - as well as other innovative commercial payloads.

The SpaceloftXL rocket reached a maximum altitude of 72.7 miles using a rocket motor developed and built by Cesaroni Technology Incoporated (CTI) of Gormley, Ontario in Canada. CTI started the design process for the motor in September of 2005. The motor ustilizes a carbon fiber composite case and a monolithic solid propellant grain bonded to the casing.

In an pre-launch special news report carried on CBC Toronto, the report provides a rare glimpse behind the scenes at CTI as well as interviews with one of CTI's aerospace engineers, Dr. Jeroen Louwers. Those that are involved in sport rocketry will recognize Louwers' name as a pricipal in AED Electronics, developer of the R-DAS Rocket Data-Acquisition System flight computer. Louwers is also one of the worlds foremost experts in the combustion of hydrazine nitroformate (HNF).

Watch pre-launch coverage as carried by CBC Toronto here (9 Mb)
Watch pre-launch coverage as carried by CTV Toronto here (9 Mb)
Watch the launch as carried by the BBC here (1 Mb)

Technical data for the CTI UPA-264-C rocket motor:

Diameter: 10.45 inches
Overall length including payload adaptors: 119 inches
Propellant Weight: 412 lbs
Propellant Mass Fraction: 0.8 -
Delivered Sea-level Specific Impulse: 240s
Burn Time: 12s

05-01-2007 11:21 PM  #1
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1820	Congratulations to Anthony Cesaroni and his crew for their accomplishment. They have every right to feel proud.