FLL (First Lego League 24/25)

A Lego League innovation idea assisted by Mr. Kuijvenhoven.

Rocket Fuel

1. Which fuel will give us enough energy to reach Earth orbit?
Normal fuel was too weak and too heavy. Which would force us to spend way more resources on the spaceship. Because of that we chose Hydrolox. This fuel brings us enough Delta-V required for the mission and possible improvisations during the launch and orbiting sequence.

Mission

2. What is the mission of our 40 kg satellite?
Earth observation. With a Multi-Spectral camera, we can scan 15,000-25,000 meter squared with a resolution of 5-10 meter squared.

Orbit

3. Why did we choose a low orbit of 250 kilometers?
By using my code. We noticed that our original orbit of 500 kilometers, will keep the satellite in space for longer than the ESA guidelines allow. This would make it be classified as space junk. With an orbit of 250 kilometers, atmospheric drag will make it de-orbit naturally in a span of 5 years.

Mass

4. How do we make our launch-vehicle light enough?
Before we made the adjustments to prevent our rocket from being over-engineered. We identified a problem with the mass. Normal materials were too heavy for our 1200 kN launch-vehicle. Which is why when we found Carbon Fiber, we chose it. It is a lighter and cheaper alternative,