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01/27/08 - RPR 2nd Launch, Space Show, 3rd Intercollegiate Rocket Competition, and more!
RPR (Rocket Propelled Rocket) had its second launch on October 28th 2007 after a quick cosmetic job following the ESRA University rocket competition. In short, the rocket took a bit of damage on its maiden landing and required an extra wrap of fiberglass on the upper section to stiffen up a large dimple most likely caused by the rough Utah terrain. In addition, we added a small non-load bearing aluminum plate to the bottom of the rocket to add as a buffer from the exhaust plume. Though it has never really been a problem on other rockets that I've seen with fiberglass or wood thrust plates, our carbon-Hexcel panels warped a bit due to the heat. The landing also crushed our Slimline threads, so we did a quick fix to add wire-tension pins for motor retention. Lastly, since we did not fly a payload we added an enclosed buffer cylinder made from concrete motor tubes and fiberglass to fill the empty space. We did this so that we could use a smaller CO2 charge to eject the parachute instead of having to pressurize a larger volume due to the missing payload.
The launch was picture perfect though quite ironically I did not get a picture of the actual flight. If anyone has a good picture of the launch then PLEASE let me know at james.villarreal@asu.edu . The main purpose of this flight was to give the rest of the Daedalus members a chance to see RPR in flight since we were limited in the amount of people we could take to Utah for the 2nd Annual Intercollegiate Rocket Competition. It turned out to be a great learning experience for the members who had yet to see a high powered rocket launch. Using a commercial CTI-1400 M-motor (since AHPRA does not allow experimental motors) the rocket climbed effortlessly up to 6,700 feet in just under 20 seconds with a maximum acceleration of 11 Gees at takeoff and a top speed of 750 ft/sec (just under 0.7 Mach). The following pictures show most of the Daedalus team (this was the first rocket launch for six of them) and the other picture shows the rocket just prior to being put into launch position. All of our minor repair jobs can clearly been seen from that picture including the metal rocket plume barrier, the tension pins, the slight refurbishing on the bottom of one fin, and the extra layer of fiberglass on the upper section just above the transition from the lower carbon fiber section. I think it is an especially nice picture of the carbon fiber craftsmanship minus the always present layer of Arizona dust.
Just prior to the second RPR launch I was invited by Dr. Paul Mueller of Utah State University to be a guest speaker on The Space Show hosted by Dr. David Livingston. The show was aired on October 16th 2007 and the topic was college level student rocketry. You can go to the website to listen to the broadcast or just click HERE. Though I had never heard of the show prior to being asked on it, I was instantly hooked. Dr. Livingston does a fantastic job of bringing in interesting guests for interviews and conversations about the development of outer-space commerce and space tourism, among other topics. The following is a brief synopsis of the broadcast:
Dr. Paul Mueller, James Kendall Villarreal, and Brian Van Roy were the guest for this special program to discuss the Intercollegiate Rocket Launch Competition. You can find out more about this exciting competition by visiting http://spacegrant.usu.edu/esra. Dr. Mueller started out with an explanation of the program and then both James and Brian talked about their teams, membership, funding, rockets, and technical issues. Listeners asked several questions ranging from the application of what they learn in these rocket programs on the academic level to what they might do in a career at NASA, ULA, or even a company such as Space-X. Listen to their answers to hear just how good these experiences are for future careers for students. One listener asked them about university and peer acceptance of their work and programs throughout the university setting, including students, administration, and other professors. You will find their responses to this question most interesting. All three talked about the various competitions, how they do their rockets and motors, fuel, and much more. This is an excellent program about college level student rocketry, educational outreach and it clearly makes the case to expand these activities to other schools and even into the upper grade levels of high school. From learning appropriate safety measures to team work, to the engineering and science needed to do this substantial rockets, these are outstanding programs with outstanding students as you will hear. The Space Show looks forward to doing more programming with these guests and other university rocket program. If you want to follow up with comments or questions for our guests, you can reach Dr. Mueller at pmueller@engineering.usu.edu; James Villarreal at 'james.villarreal@asu.edu; and Bran Van Roy at vanroyb@msoe.edu.
Next up we have the option of either (a) rebuilding TLA or (b) starting on the new competition rocket. We have decided instead to combine the two and create a new option which is (c) incorporate components of TLA into the design of the new rocket. Thus far, our design calls for a stubby version of TLA fitted atop the lower half of RPR. Not only will this save money for the cost of the rocket but it also showcase the modularity of our rockets which we always try to fit in where ever we can. Using our standard M-motor, the first stage will travel to about 5kft where a gee-switch timer will ignite the second stage. Thus far, our plan calls for the ignition of the second stage motor to release itself from the friction fit on the coupler attached to the first stage. At this point in the flight the entire rocket will still be coasting with a good amount of velocity and hopefully still on a straight trajectory. The bottom stage will reach apogee soon thereafter and release a parachute of its own while the upper stage coasts to an altitude of (hopefully) 10kft. As you might guess, this entire design rests on the performance of the coupler between the two stages since it will take a significant amount of loading and heat as well as housing the sensitive electronics necessary to bring the first stage home safely. Hang-fires (like the one that TLA experienced on its maiden flight) are also of concern. As a back up, the CO2 charges in the first stage will pack enough punch to knock off the first stage when it hits apogee in case the second stage does not deploy. Complicated ballet of timing you say? Sure, a bit, but we're confident we can pull a win out of this. The following picture shows the general design, though I will add a more detailed drawing when the design is finalized (click the picture for a larger view).
As if that's not enough to keep us all busy, we are also still planning on designing, mixing, and testing our own solid rocket motors for both stages. Our self-mixed M-motor performed well at the rocket competition, but we require a quick & easy starting propellant mixture for the second stage. Fortunately, with the help of the ASU safety officials, we now have the capabilities to do the mixing at our lab. This should greatly speed up the process for new motor development. The payload is still up in the air, but we have started preliminary work to determine the feasibility of several systems, one of which is a spin-control mechanism for the upper stage.
In addition, we have a new rocket outreach program scheduled for the summer. It will likely be a mix between high school and middle school students, both of which we have some experience in teaching. I still need to put up our other outreach events on the website, but that should all be happening this week with any luck since I have finally received a volunteer to help with the website. Please stay tuned!
~ James Kendall Villarreal; Project Director