Team VOID – designing reusable rockets
Team VOID is a young student team at TU/e. They focus on reusability of rockets for applications such as telecommunications and satellites
The space industry faces a major challenge. Traditional rockets are usually single-use and end up at the bottom of the ocean somewhere after their mission. This makes space travel expensive and not environmentally friendly. The brand new student team VOID at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is determined to change this. The team, founded in August 2023, unveiled a mini version of their to-be-build rocket.
It’s not yet a large-scale, shiny rocket that the students of Team VOID have built, but they are well on their way. During their reveal event, they showcased the Tapeti: a mini version of the rocket. This is a so-called “hopper” with a propeller instead of a rocket motor.
“This prototype allows us to test all of our control algorithms and validate design decisions before moving forward with the ‘real rocket’,” Veveris says.
Although VOID is still a young student team, their ambition reaches for the stars. What began with just eight members has grown in a year to a team of 27 driven students, from 13 different countries. Together they are working toward one shared goal: to completely transform the space industry.
This is much needed. One of the biggest obstacles is that most rockets can only be used once. This means that a completely new rocket must be built after each launch, which is both time-consuming and costly. In addition, the current practice of disposable rockets is far from environmentally friendly. There are at least 263 space objects in the Pacific Ocean.
Team VOID, on the other hand, is taking a different tack and designing reusable rockets. This is similar to what companies like SpaceX are doing. “But we show that the space sector is not just for big industrial market leaders. Students can also make a big contribution,” Veveris said.
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