WObbling controL system for Free falling unit (WOLF) project is closely related to an experiment called SPIDER (Small Payloads for Investigation of Disturbances in Electrojet by Rockets) which was developed under the Swedish National Balloon and Rocket Programme. SPIDER carried a payload of ten Free Flying Units (FFU) which were released from the main rocket at ~65 km. The FFU’s deployed spherical
probes on wire booms to measure turbulence in the auroral electrojet between 95 km and 115 km. Those FFUs experienced a wobble motion, likely induced during the FFU ejection from the rocket. The wobbling motion of the probes may compromise the measurements on the spinning payloads with flexible booms, as the position of the probes cannot be assumed radial. In the worst cases, wobbling can compromise the dynamics of the free flyers. The WOLF REXUS experiment sets out to address this issue, aiming to demonstrate a dynamical system to suppress the wobbling, and ensure flat spin motion on disc-shaped FFUs. The experiment also addresses the questions of the FFU ejection effect on the main rocket attitude dynamics, and develops a more robust recovery and localization system to be used on FFUs of this class. The WOLF experiment was selected for flight onboard RX24 sounding rocket, realized in the framework of the REXUS/BEXUS programme.
