Make it fly
Our Rocket
Operations
Concept of Operations
The rocket will be launched from the launch pad where the first stage will be ignited. Once the first motor fully burns out, the booster section will start to drop due to the drag forces it will experience. After the booster is separated from the rest of the rocket, the stage 2 motor will ignite and boost the rocket towards apogee. During this time the booster section will descend to around 1,500ft where the parachute will deploy. Once the rocket reaches apogee, its drogue chute will deploy, and start the descension process until around 1,500ft the chute will release for the rocket while simultaneously releasing the payload. Both the rocket and payload will deploy another parachute and descend to the ground completing the flight.
Function Flow Block Diagram
This is the functional flow block diagram for the rocket systems. The function flow block diagram shows all the main components of the rocket and how each component is connected to one another. Every subsystem is labelled with a corresponding color and the method of the connection are seen in the legend. Power being green, physical connections being blue, and data transmissions being purple dotted lines to name a few.
Description of Rocket
The rocket will feature a 2 stage design that is a total of 199” long. The first stage is the booster section of the rocket, which holds the first motor that is ignited along with its recovery system and the avionics to control said system. The second stage includes the Nose, Forward, and Sustainer sections of the rocket. The Sustainer section of the rocket will include a payload system and a motor. The Forward section of the rocket will include a payload system, and an AV bay. The payload system in the Forward section is larger than that of the Sustainer due to it holder more components. The motors of the rocket will be the N3300R for the booster and the M2400T for the sustainer.
Structure
Description
The purpose of the structure subsystem is to protect internal subsystems from external forces exerted onto the rocket during launch. The rocket can be broken up into 4 main sections: the booster, the sustainer, the forward, and the nose cone. The booster section stores the first motor that launches the rocket off the launch rail and provides the initial velocity and momentum. The sustainer section holds a second motor that carries the rocket to apogee after the booster motor burns out. The forward section stores the payload and some of the recovery subsystem. The booster, sustainer, and forward sections use G12 fiberglass tubing as the main framing for the rocket structure. The nose cone section has a 5:1 Von Karman fiberglass transition that connects the forward section to an aluminum tip. The nose cone helps the rocket stability and is subjected to most of the aerodynamic heating and pressure. Fins attached to the booster and sustainer sections will help to control the rocket’s center of pressure.
Propulsions
The propulsion subsystem focuses on researching, testing, procuring, and assembling the motors that will be used to provide the necessary force to propel the rocket up towards an apogee of 25,000 ft. Both motors feature a smoke charge at the front section to signal observers that the burn time of the motor is over, indicating that the vehicle is in free flight, and a standard rocket nozzle at the rear section that has been designed to optimize the gas flow out of the rocket, offering improvements to major characteristics of the motor, such as improved efficiency, stability, and thrust. Inside the casing are propellant packs that are evenly distributed, each containing the same amount of propellant. For ignition, there is a wire that runs through the middle of the tube to route two electric igniters. Each igniter is dipped in copper thermite to provide the necessary heat to ignite the propellant burn. The subsystem consists of two motors, one that acts as the booster, part of the first stage, and one that acts as the sustainer, part of the second stage. The booster will be powered by an N3300R motor, which provides a significant amount of thrust to propel two stages of the rocket upwards, with a specified length of 41.2” and a diameter of 3.86”, while the sustainer will be powered by an M2400T motor, which provides less thrust to prevent overshooting the target apogee of 25,000 ft, with a specified length of 23.5” and 3.86”. Based on simulations and testing, this motor configuration yielded the best results for reaching the apogee.
Recovery
The recovery subsystem will include a total of five parachutes, two Drogue parachutes, and three main parachutes. One drogue and one main parachute will be used to safely land the Stage 1 rocket segment, the next drogue and main parachute will be used to land the Stage 2 rocket segment, and the final main parachute will help the payload system land. Each parachute will have a swivel link to reduce the twisting and be connected to the shock cords which will be connected to the rocket by the U-bolts or eye bolts of the avionics bays or bulkheads. In total the system will include seven shock cords. The shock cord will be made of a braided Kevlar material or 1.25” Kevlar Covered Tubular Nylon. The Stage 1 Recovery system will have the main parachute folded in a parachute deployment bag to protect it from the black powder charges, the parachute bag will be wrapped with a Chute Release and not deployed until 1,500 ft above ground level. The Stage 2 Recovery system will include a drogue parachute covered with a chute protector to keep it safe from the black powder charges. At 1,500 ft the piston in the forward section will eject both the payload and the stage 2 recovery parachute. The recovery system also features two avionics bays (AV bays) to house the avionics being the Telemega Flight Computer used which track the altitude of the rocket, stage the pyro events to ignite the black powder charges, and send live telemetry to the ground station. The Telemegas also have built in GPS systems that will be used to track the location of the Sustainer and Forward sections.
Payload
The payload subsystem consists of a 4.5” diameter housing that is 12” long, made of a polycarbonate tube with two ⅜” threaded rods, and enclosed with two ¾” wood bulkheads. The payload housing is located in the forward section of the rocket and has two small first-person view (FPV) cameras. One of the small FPV cameras will face a prism to capture the ascent outside of the rocket and send a live video transmission to the ground station from lift-off to touch down for the entire flight. The other FPV camera will rotate autonomously with a motor to capture a 360-degree horizontal panorama upon landing and transmit a live video feed to the ground station. In addition, another payload housing is located in the sustainer with an FPV camera to capture the rocket’s ascent with a prism and will only record the entire flight to a micro SD card.
