The project
The TEXUS project is a sounding rocket program with the primary aim to investigate the properties and behavior of materials, chemicals, and biological substances in a microgravity environment. The TEXUS program gives around six minutes of microgravity.
The TEXUS programme started in 1977 and is carried out at Esrange Space Center jointly by DLR, Airbus Defence&Space, OBH-System (former EADS Astrium and Kayser Threde) and SSC. SSC is responsible for the launch operations. The TEXUS campaigns are sometimes financed by ESA or jointly financed by DLR and ESA.
TEXUS 51/52
The rocket vehicle Skylark 7 was used very successfully for the first 25 years until the motor was no longer available. The Brazilian motor VSB-30 has been used for the TEXUS programme since 2005 and will be used to launch the TEXUS 50 and 51 payloads to around 270 km altitude.
The TEXUS 51 payload was scheduled to be launched from Esrange during the period April 2 – 25, 2013 in a double campaign with TEXUS 50. Due to technical problems, the TEXUS 51 campaign was canceled. TEXUS 51 will be launched in a double campaign with TEXUS 52 in April 2015.
General information
| Launch site | Esrange Space Center |
| Launch date | TX51 launched on April 23, 2015 TX52 launched on April 27, 2015 |
Technical information
| Rocket type | VSB 30 rocket |
| Nominal diameter | 557 mm |
| Total weight TEXUS 51 | 2654,4 kg |
| Total weight TEXUS 52 | 2644,6 kg |
| Apogee | ~261 km |
Experiment modules
TEXUS 51 Payload
| Experiment Module | Experiment title | Experimenter | Remark |
| TEM 02-3 | Determination of the critical capture velocity of particles during directional solidification of solar silicon in space (ParSiWal) | Dr. J. Friedrich, Fraunhofer Institut Erlangen |
Re-flight from TEXUS 47 with additional functions: rotating sample and magnetic field |
| TEM 06-36 | Fiber-laser-based optical frequency comb in zero gravity (FOKUS) | Dr. R. Holzwarth, MPQ München |
New development with accommodation of an experiment unit from MPQ |
| TEM 06-16 | Signal transduction in cells of the immune system under microgravity conditions (SITI-2) | Prof. Dr. O. Ullrich, Universität Magdeburg |
Re-flight from TEXUS 49 with additional centrifuge |
| TEM 06-23 | The transition from columnar to equiaxed solidification in a transparent model alloy (TRACE-3) | Dr. G. Zimmermann, ACCESS Aachen |
Re-flight from TEXUS 49 with modified parameters |
TEXUS 52 Payload
| Experiment Module | Experiment title | Experimenter | Remark |
| TEM 06-38 |
Live-Cell-Imaging by fluorescent microscopy of cytoscoptical transformation under changing zero gravity. |
Dr. F. Kohn, Prof. Dr. D. Grimm, Prof. Dr. O. Ullrich, |
New development |
| TEM 06-39 |
Capillary instabilities in liquid films and |
Prof. Dr. Stannarius, Prof. N. Clark, |
New development |
| TEM 06-31 |
Adaptability of the swimming behavior of Daphnia and predator-prey relationship |
Prof. Dr. C. Laforsch |
Partial re-flight of TEXUS 48. New tanks, new observation, and illumination concept |
Contact persons
Mr. Mikael Töyrä, Project manager, SSC
Mr. Andreas Schütte, Project manager, Airbus DS
Dr. Otfried Joop, Project Manager, DLR
Mr. Peter Turner, Campaign manager, DLR
Mr. Horst Pfeuffer; KT payload integration manager, OHB System
