RISE is a new student team from both the University of Twente and the Vrije Universiteit van Amsterdam. The mission of RISE is to contribute to cleaning up space debris for a safer and more sustainable future. Space debris poses a serious threat to current and future spacecraft. With space missions becoming more frequent, the chance of generating more space debris increases, which eventually could lead to the scenario depicted by the Kessler syndrome. The faster we contribute to cleaning up space, the less likely such a scenario would become reality.
In pursuit of this mission, RISE actively designs, constructs and tests reusable rockets. By focusing on reusable rockets for transportation, many costs in retrieving the rocket and its maintenance are reduced, thus making this mission cost-effective. Once RISE is capable of successfully launching its reusable rocket, more focus will be put on the design and physical implementation of these clean-up devices.