Astraeus 1

One small rocket, treated as a complete flight system.

Astraeus 1 is being designed to log and transmit altitude, acceleration and attitude in real time, then deploy a parachute by servo. The design follows Germany’s 250 g and 120 m model-rocket constraints.

The goal is not simply to launch. It is to design, build and validate an avionics stack whose sensing, communications and recovery behaviour can be tested and understood before flight.

A planned, modular avionics architecture.

• Compute: A Raspberry Pi Pico 2 will run the flight-state machine and startup checks.
• Sensing: Two LSM6DSOX IMUs and two BMP388 barometers are planned for redundant measurements and Kalman-filter-based sensor fusion.
• Telemetry: GPS and an 868 MHz LoRa downlink will report the rocket’s state to the ground station.
• Power and assembly: The design uses a LiPo, boost converter, custom two-layer PCB and modular JST connections so components can be tested and reused.
• Recovery: A servo-operated latch will release the parachute.

Test the measurements before trusting the launch.

The validation plan begins with breadboard tests of every sensor and communication link, followed by recovery tests, PCB design, ground-station validation and documented pre-flight checks. Results will be added here as the design becomes hardware.

The launch system will remain physically and electrically separate: a certified commercial controller will be used at an approved site, while the flight computer will handle sensing, telemetry and recovery only.