Philippe Rudolph

TUM

Tuesday, May 05, 2026, 11:00 - 11:30

SYSCOP Meeting Space

Abstract: More than a decade after SpaceX’s successful recovery of the Falcon 9, reusable rockets transitioned from an experiment to an industry standard. To explore the challenges of vertical recovery, the Chair of Space Mobility and Propulsion at TUM, in collaboration with WARR Rocketry, developed the “E-Hopper”: an electric thrust vector controlled Hopper. The purpose of the E-Hopper is to provide a low-risk platform for rapid iteration and validation of control algorithms and software architectures. This presentation details the end-to-end development of the vehicle, from the engineering challenges to the software stack. Finally, the vehicle's upcoming deployment as a real-world testbed for NMPC using the acados framework is introduced.