Preliminary Design Review
Rocket & Payload Schematic
Lift Off Apogee and ejection of drogue parachute Payload and main chute deployment
Rocksim predicted trajectory of rocket
Deployment of main parachute and Airship Airship Main parachute Rocket body
The vehicle body tubes will be made of cardboard because of its cost and strength to weight ratio. The Nose Cone will be made of Polystyrene because of its weight versus strength against other materials. Both the Main Parachute and the Drogue Parachute will be made of rip-stop nylon.
The thrust-to-weight ratio is:28.65 The rail exit velocity will be: 73.6 ft/s The static stability margin is: 2.56 The current motor selected is a: Cesaroni K660. This choice came from vigorous testing in Rocksim to achieve the desired height.
Rocket with Cesaroni K660
These components: airship, Tygon tubing, gas canister, electronics bay; will have repeated static testing. Parachute charges will be static tested at various points in the design process. Half-Scale Rocket will be made and tested several times before launch day. A test flight of the main vehicle will be done to confirm rocket stability as required.
Before launch, the team will confirm they have telemetric contact with the rocket. Altimeters will be checked prior to launch. All power supplies (batteries) will be checked before launch to ensure they are at maximum capacity. The parachutes will be checked several times for proper folding. Black powder charges will be checked by advisors before loading the charges into the rocket.
Team will confirm they have telemetric contact and radio contact with the airship prior to putting the rocket on the pad. Team will confirm airship is connected correctly to the gas tubing. Air canisters will be checked prior to launch for correct capacity and pressure.
The total mass of the vehicle and payload is expected to be 23 pounds at liftoff. The mass was used to calculate the ideal parachute for the rocket. Recovery systems are attached using half-inch shock chord fastened through an eyebolt. The eyebolts will be fastened to bulkheads fitted inside of the airframe and securely set using epoxy. At the end of the shock chord there is a one thousand pound rated swivel to which the parachute will attach. In order to keep the sustainer section attached to the rest of the vehicle after drogue chute deployment the drogue chute is attached to both the sustainer section and the electronics bay (EBay).
The vehicle has a dual deployment system. Carrying a drogue and a main parachute, the vehicle deploys them via the use of an altimeter activated deployment charges. The drogue chute is positioned in the sustainer section and is deployed at an altitude of one mile (agl). Once the altimeter reads 5,280 feet, an electrical charge will set off two deployment charges. Then, the pressure built up inside of the airframe will separate the two tubes releasing the drogue parachute.
As the rocket begins its decent with the deployed drogue chute, the altimeter will be waiting until the vehicle reaches the height of 1,000 feet and at that point will again trigger two deployment charges. These two will be position in the payload section just above the air tank and separated by three bulkheads. The pressure created will push out the nose cone deploying the airship and the main parachute.
The airship, to perform correctly must inflate in the air and release when instructed from the falling rocket body. To do this, the air canisters in the payload section of the rocket will be on a remote controlled valve system. This system will allow ground personnel to open them and allow the gas inflate the airship at 1000 ft., after the main parachute is deployed.
The airship will also have a motored system that is radio controlled. It allows ground personnel to direct the airship’s flight pattern. This system allows the airship to land safely and accurately A radio controlled tether release will be used on the airship after it has fully inflated. Finally, the airship will hold a steady-cam camera that takes video during its flight. The camera will continuously send data back to the ground station during the entire trip.
The Rocket will have an electronics bay inside containing the ejection charged wired to altimeters. At specified altitudes the ejection charges will go off, ejecting the drogue and main parachutes as planned. The main parachute will eject at around 1000 feet, to give the airship time to inflate and deploy.
End