Draft:MAPHEUS

MAPHEUS is a sounding rocket programme run by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) since 2009. It is a research platform for experiments in weightlessness (microgravity) of the DLR Institute of Materials Physics in Space, the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine , and the DLR Mobile Rocket Basis MORABA. Each sub-orbital flight provides about 6 minutes of weightlessness conditions for research and technology development. The launches take place at Esrange Space Center near Kiruna in northern Sweden.

MAPHEUS is one of the European microgravity-research rocket programs, similar in performance to programs of the German and European space agencies like TEXUS or MASER/SubOrbital Express that are financed by the German and European space agencies. It currently focuses on research from materials physics and life sciences, and also serves as a technology test platform for the development and qualification of new sounding rocket vehicles and service systems.

MAPHEUS 1–4 (2009–2013)
The first four launches of MAPHEUS were based on a two-stage Nike/Improved Orion vehicle, supporting payload with 14" diameter of around 190kg weight for flights up to around 150km height.

MAPHEUS 5–8 (2015–2019)
With MAPHEUS 5, there was a switch to the VSB-30 two-stage vehicle and larger 17" payload, supporting heavier payloads for flights up to around 250km height. For MAPHEUS 7, the S-31 engine booster of the VSB-30 was combined with an Improved Malemute as the second stage.

MAPHEUS 9–13 (2021–2023)
To establish an alternative to the VSB-30 vehicle, for which the rocket motors have to be shipped from Brazil to Sweden, after MAPHEUS 8 a switch was performed to a two-stage Imroved Malemute (IM-IM) vehicle. With this, altitudes of around 260km can be reached, at the cost of a slightly reduced payload mass compared to the VSB-30 vehicles, and at the cost of much higher maximum acceleration during the launch (up to 20g).

Due to restrictions posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and due to inavailability of the Skylark launcher on Esrange, the launches of MAPHEUS 9/10 were postponed to 2021/2022, and MAPHEUS 11 was launched in 2021 with a much reduced experiment team. All IM-IM launches for MAPHEUS used the MAN launcher on Esrange.

MAPHEUS 14– (2024–)
The launch of MAPHEUS 14 saw the first production use of RED KITE, a new sounding rocket motor produced by Bayern-Chemie and developed in cooperation with German Aerospace Center.