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08/02/08 - ESRA 2008 University Rocket Competition and Summer Outreach Results
ESRA University Rocket Competition Results
We have finally received good video of our recent rocket launch at the ESRA University rocket competition recently held in Green River, Utah. Eight Daedalus team members traveled to Utah to unveil our newest rocket: DARTS (Duck And Run To Safety). DARTS is an ambitious two-stage rocket design which had never before been attempted at this competition. After the first stage boost, the second stage ignites in the air thereby dropping off the weight of the spent first stage and carrying the payload to a higher total altitude. As always, the vast majority of the rocket was built from scratch by Daedalus personnel. This includes the carbon fiber body tubes and structures, roll-control canard system, and of course solid rocket motors that we design, mix, and cure from raw propellant ingredients. The competition rules required carrying a 10lb payload to 10,000 feet. Points were awarded for written reports, PowerPoint presentations, student design, general student knowledge, and of course recovery and trajectory data.
From left to right on the above picture the Daedalus team members are: Felipe Hernandez, Marjorie Rima, Steven Shark, Jacob Dennis, Kelly Mahon, AJ Colangelo, James Villarreal, and Matt Summers.
The launch itself was beautiful: perfect boost and recovery of the first stage, and a flawless execution of the second stage ignition. Unfortunately, the second stage parachutes did not open at apogee. This is likely due to an electronic malfunction (our real-time telemetry blinked out as well). However, the first stage reached an apogee of 3,100 feet, which is in very close agreement to our predicted value of 3,000 feet. As such, we are fairly certain our second stage hit the 10,000 foot altitude, though we could not officially report that altitude. We still won second place in the competition, as well as the Jim Furfaro Award for Technical Excellence. This is our second year in a row winning both awards.
Although flying a more conservative rocket would surely give us a much better chance of winning first place, we much prefer to test the boundaries of rocket flight and take on increasingly difficult projects. Building our own structures, mixing our own motors, and staging rockets are important steps for us. That being said, we plan on rebuilding the first stage this upcoming fall semester in anticipation of future launches to higher altitudes. Using larger motors, DARTS can easily hit altitudes upwards of 35,000 feet with a second stage speed approaching Mach 2.
We would like to thank our Title Sponsor Raytheon and our student group advisor Dr. Pavlos Mikellides for their constant support over the years, as well as Candace Jackson from ASU NASA Space Grant and Katrina Vance from the Student Organization Center for their help with travel and hotel arrangements.
Hopefully we can get the pictures of the launch and the remaining videos up on the web soon.
Three (3) Daedalus Summer Rocket Outreach Events
Daedalus participated in three separate rocket outreach events these past few months. Each was hosted through the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering "Fulton Summer Institute", but were performed by Daedalus personnel with the help of SORP chaperones. They were divided into three separate categories:
(1) Success in Engineering Education (SEE) Summer Bridge program included 35 young men and women who are incoming engineering freshman (historically underrepresented and female minorities). The students live on campus for 5 weeks, take a 3-credit english class and are given week long review courses in math, physics, computers, and chemistry. Daedalus spent two weeks with this program, performing a twist on our outreach program using the Estes1463 rocket kits. In addition to just building the rockets, the students were also asked to solve for the center of pressure of the rockets (using the Barrowman equations) and to build a program (most students used Microsoft Excel) to calculate the final altitude of their rocket. In addition, the rockets were designed and built to carry a small altimeter (PerfectFlite Alt15k/WD) so they could compare their target altitude with their predicted altitude. The results came out quite well, and the winners came within 20 feet of their predicted altitude!
(2) The YES! Men's and Women's High School Program historically targets underrepresented men and women in grades 10 through 12. Daedalus performed this program for two weeks and included an egg-drop competition into the normal routine of just building and flying model rockets. The competition was, as one would expect, as simple as building an egg-holding apparatus into the rocket and trying to successfully recover the egg undamaged. Of the approximately 15 rockets that held eggs, only 3 of the groups recovered their eggs intact. This was a large program encompassing 50 students and we launched approximately 30 rockets.
(3) The Junior High Men's and Women's Program historically targets underrepresented young men and women in grades 6 through 9. Daedalus had only a few days to build rockets with this group, but it pushed our members to the limit to manage a very energetic group of approximately 60 students. Fortunately, we had many Daedalus members help out as volunteers: James Villarreal, Thomas Villarreal, AJ Colangelo, Matt Summers, and Carlos Ballesteros.
Again, we hope to get the many pictures we took from these outreach events up on the web as soon as we can get them all collated.
~ James Kendall Villarreal; Project Director