AQUILO VIII.V is a redesign born from the original AQUILO VIII. The same goal was set, meaning it would be a testbed for a dual stage rocket. But in contrast to it's predecessor, it has some major changes in comparison with the previous generations of AQUILO rockets. The maiden flight for the sustainer (AQUILO VIII.V S) was set for the 22nd of March, but it is now expected to fly the 31st of March

Although the base concept is reminiscent of AQUILO VIII, it has undergone some major design changes. The biggest and most notable is the inner structure of the rocket. Previously, AQUILO rockets would use bulkheads to inside the rocket to mount components, which then would connect to the aeroshell, carrying the main forces of flight. With our designs growing in both size and complexity, this proved to lead to challenges during integration on the launch day of AQUILO VIII.

Thus our new design features an inner structure made out of aluminium struts that are connected to our bulkheads. These now carry the loads instead of the aeroshell, which is now mounted over this structure in a later stage. The result was a major increase of efficiency during integration. Both in the integration tests and on the launch site itself.

The first flight was set for the 22nd of March 2024. The rocket made it to the launchpad, but sadly went the countdown reached zero, did not take off. It safely burned off its propellant, keeping the rocket in perfect shape apart from 2 fins. A short investigation afterwards concluded that a slight procedural error was made during launchpad integration, which triggered a safety measure built into the design. This meant that the nozzle was expelled from the motor, preventing the build-up of pressure and therefore lift-off.

The second flight was set for the 31st of May 2024. This time the launch was successful and we were able to correct the initial mistake.