Space Night at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Introduced Future Space Engineers

Autonomously controlled robotic vehicles, student-built rockets, a 3D-printed rocket engine, and participation in international competitions – these were just some of the topics discussed at the Space Night conference. At the end of February, student teams met in Pilsen for the second time.

The Space Night conference aims to provide students from across the Czech Republic with a space for informal networking and the exchange of experience between different projects. It is organized by various student teams interested in astronautics. At the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, the meeting is hosted by the local team UWB Robotics, which also participates in international competitions of robotic vehicles designed for the exploration of other planets. “The conference has already become a traditional place where students share know-how and enthusiasm for astronautics and innovation. I am pleased that individual teams are shaping a new generation of Czech space engineers who are entering professional practice not only with degrees, but also with invaluable experience gained during their studies,” said Václav Mašek, a PhD student at the Department of Machine Design at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and one of the organizers.

This year, the UWB Robotics team presented not only the second generation of its competition rover but also its first micro-rover. The small autonomous robotic vehicle is cheaper than conventional rovers, yet more efficient for certain tasks and even has its own competition category. At the end of July, the students plan to take their rovers to the Anatolian Rover Challenge in Turkey. At Space Night in Pilsen, however, members of the UWB Robotics team also shared their experience from the Crossbotics project. In this project, they are developing autonomous control for the next generation of rover in cooperation with a team from Technische Hochschule Deggendorf in Germany. The goal is for the vehicle to perform some tasks independently, without direct operator control.

Engineers from the CTU Space Research team from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague also came to Pilsen for the meeting. They are working on a smaller rocket intended for testing avionics - the rocket’s control electronics. At UWB they also presented their experimental rocket engine produced using 3D printing. The YSpace team from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication at Brno University of Technology joined the conference remotely. Their satellite was undergoing vibration testing at the time, during which the device is exposed to strong shocks to verify that it can withstand a rocket launch.

For the first time, students from the Secondary Vocational School of Electrical Engineering in Pilsen also took part in the Space Night conference. Their team, SOUEPL Rocket Research, is developing a rocket with its own avionics and a special parachute system designed for the rocket’s safe landing. Unlike conventional designs, it does not use pyrotechnics – small explosive charges typically used to eject the parachute from the rocket body. Instead, the students are developing a mechanical system that should be safer and reusable.

UWB also welcomed representatives of the Czech Rocket Society association at the conference. The first official student organization in the Czech Republic focused on rockets and astronautics organizes the annual Czech Rocket Challenge competition, which this year has attracted a record number of more than seventy teams from the Czech Republic and abroad. During Space Night, high school students from SOUEPL also expressed interest in participating in the competition. According to the conference organizers, the number of student projects and competition participants clearly shows that student interest in space technologies is growing significantly.