Jeroen van Straten

Jeroen is an electrical engineer with experience in designing and building electronics for rockets and test benches.

Jeroen graduated for his bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering at Delft University of Technology this year. For the next few years, he will continue his education with a Master's degree in Embedded Systems.

Alongside his studies and White Label Space work, he is active within Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering, having worked on the electronics for the Dutch CanSat competition (see http://www.cansat.nl/) and Stratos rockets.

***

Flying Soon at a Rocket Range Near You

Our first hovering rocket vehicle is starting to take shape. This photo shows some of the pieces positioned as they will be on the finished product.

The propulsion system will use three pulse-modulated thrusters running on monopropellant hydrogen peroxide. The project will give the White Label Space team valuable experience in designing and operating rocket vehicles, thus accumulating know-how that will later be used to develop our moon lander.

***

Surveyor 1 Descent Simulation

Brush up on your GNC know-how and learn some interesting technical details about NASA's first spacecraft to soft land on the Moon!

This video presentation by White Label Space's GNC specialist, Bart Hertog, explains a simulation of the Surveyor 1 terminal descent based upon published NASA documents from the 1960s. Bart undertook this simulation as a validation exercise to prove that his method can give accurate results for the White Label Space lunar lander mission.

The results of the validation exercise were very good in terms of the propellant consumption and other important parameters of the landing stage. Some discrepancies were found for the braking motor but these can be traced to incomplete data sets, specifically the lack of an accurate thrust versus time curve for the main retro rocket motor.

WLS GLXP Team Summit Presentation May 2012

Andrew Barton and Takeshi Hakamada presented this update of White Label Space's progress at the GLXP team summit held in Washington, DC in May 2012.

Now Is The Time To Go Back To Space

Three space enthusiasts, inspired by the 50-year anniversary of John Glenn's orbit of the earth, launched a weather balloon with a looping video message to the entire world: "Now is the time for us to go back into space". Also check out their site for the behind scenes look at the production effort, which surprising seems to include the first (successful) marriage proposal filmed in near space and watched on the ground.

OpenSite presents Now Is The Time

We Have Ignition!

The White Label Space team is a step closer to having the necessary propulsion system for its GLXP moon lander. This photo shows a successful test of the torch igniter conducted last week.

The next step is to integrate the torch igniter with the rest of the rocket motor and to initiate the first firing test of the complete liquid bi-propellant system.

***

LED Rover Dance

Previously we released a video of our rover showing off its dance moves for the Nagisa Music Festival, but we didn't have the time to set it to music. Since its so cute, we just had to let it dance a little more, this time to a musical accompaniment.

 

Mixing Music and Space

Who said engineering is not sexy? In this great video our Japanese moon rover is showing off some of its dance moves for the Nagisa Music Festival in Tokyo this coming weekend, coinciding with the solar eclipse.

Neat electric blue lights and precision point turning.. just what you need for a solar eclipse party!

 

And that's not the only outreach that our little rover is making into the music world...

Japanese members of the White Label Space team are also collaborating with jazz musicians. At Roppongi's softwind, space technology and jazz music jammed together as jazz musicians played famous pieces like "fly me to the moon" accompanied by a presentation of the White Label Space GLXP project.

It seems space technology is not just for geeks anymore!

Torch Igniter Testing Update

WLS team members have undertaken the first tests of the torch igniter design that will eventually be used set alight the throttleable motor on our lunar lander as it descends to the moon. The first tests were inconclusive and indicate the some tuning is needed for the propellant supply system, however that is expected to be resolved in the next couple of weeks.

Below are photos of some components of the torch igniter and the custom test rig that was built to support the tests.

***

First Integration Steps for Rocket Motor Prototype

This video shows some of the preliminary integration activities for the throttleable rocket motor prototype currently being developed for the White Label Space lunar lander. It is a liquid bi-propellant motor using nitrous oxide and kerosene. It also features a spark ignition system.

The motor will be commercialized by the Dutch company EDL Hypersystems B.V..

WLS-J Introduces our GLXP Competitor Selenokhod

Continuing to introduce our Google Lunar X PRIZE competitors to the Japanese audience, Mr Atsushi Minegishi from our Japan office recorded this video (in Japanese) about the Selenokhod team.

Space Ventures Investors Partners with WLS

White Label Space is proud to announce its new partnership with Space Ventures Investors, an internationally focused venture addressing how private and institutional investors can invest in space. 

Through the partnership, White Label Space will have unique access to the Space Ventures Investors network and industry knowledge base whilst Space Ventures Investors will gain a window on the investment opportunities related to the Google Lunar X PRIZE and access to the technical expertise present in the team. 

Space Ventures Investors collects from individuals and organizations vital information about their investment appetite for the space sector and looks at how marketing can be used to change potential investors‘ views on investing in space. By monitoring selected space-related stocks it provides interested investors with space investment advice.

Space Ventures Investors is also researching how capital can be applied to the commercialization of space and identifying the key verticals that are accessible, offer value to the public, and modeled to meet return on investment criteria over a fixed period. Based on this know-how it is developing a range of space industry financial products to enable the private or institutional investor to actively invest in space.

 ***

Last Chance to Enter Lunar Rover Driving Competition

Simon O'Reilly reminds everyone that there are just a few days left to enter this competition and win a chance to remotely drive the White Label Space rover on the Moon. Visit our facebook page to enter.

ARCA Described by WLS Japan

Takuya Ohgi from White Label Space's Japan Office present this description of the ARCA team competing in the Google Lunar X PRIZE. (Video in Japanese)

(This video was approved for publishing by ARCA)

Andrew Barton Talks About Innovation and the GLXP

The Chairman of White Label Space, Dr Andrew Barton, talks in this video about his views on innovation and the Google Lunar X PRIZE. Topics covered include his definition of innovation, how the new space industry differs from the traditional one and the rise of China and India.

CAMbrain Support for Rover PM2 Manufacturing

White Label Space's Rover Prototype Model #2 (PM2) is under development in Tokyo, Japan. This video (in Japanese) shows WLS engineers visiting a partner factory, CAMbrain, which is responsible for manufacturing parts for the Rover's suspension and structure. CAMbrain possesses strong skills in metal processing.

Lunar Rover Competition

We've now launched our competition where the winner will get to take remote control of the White Label Space Lunar Rover and use it to explore the moon! To enter this competition check out our facebook page and be sure to "Like" us!

The prize of the competition is the chance to control the Lunar Rover but the length of time you get at the wheel is up to you! The competition is free to enter and you can win 5 minutes drive time for free.

5 minutes not enough??
.. you can also extend the time you can drive by making a small donation.

A donation of €10 means the winner will get 15 minutes of drive time and then every additional €5 donated will earn the winner one more minute exploring another world! Make your donations using this PayPal button.

Your donations will help fund our mission and make our dream of being the first non-government funded body to land a spacecraft on the moon a reality.

Donations must be made before 1 April, 2012, in order to count towards the Lunar Rover Competition.

***

Like to Drive on the Moon?

White Label Space GLXP team is giving you the chance to remotely drive a rover on the Moon!

Check out this video message from Simon O'Reilly for more details, and don't forget to Like us on facebook!

 

Testing of Panel Edge Insert Joint

A quick (and dirty) test was carried out by the White Label Space team to get a feeling for the strength of the insert joint located at the side of a piece of scrap CFRP sandwich panel. The insert survived the maximum applied static load of about 1.5kN. Without the appropriate test equipment to hand, the team decided to use an innovative 'dynamic' test technique to take the joint all the way up to its rupture load. This test proved that the low-cost technique used make this joint is suitable for the lunar lander Structural Model that the White Label Space GLXP team is currently developing.

Lander Drop Tests 2 and 3

Continuing to refine the procedures for drop tests, the White Label Space lander design team conducted these additional tests. The crush length results for these single axis drop tests are now quite repeatable and efforts are now focussed on optimizing the video recording parameters to get maximum temporal resolution and image quality during the drop.