DARTS (Duck and Run to Safety)
Last Updated: 02/10/2009
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The DARTS (Duck and Run to Safety) rocket was designed and built to compete in the 3rd annual Intercollegiate Rocket competition hosted by the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA). DARTS boasts the following technologies:
- Two-stage design (hot-fire seperation)
- Custom solid rocket motors designed and built by Daedalus members
- Dual flight computers in each stage
- GPS and real-time telemetry in upper stage
- Digital video camera in upper stage
- Roll control canard system
- Carbon fiber upper and lower stage
- Fiberglass structure around the telemetry package in upper stage
- Carbon fiber / Hexcel honeycomb fins
The planned altitude for the competition was just 10,000 feet, though DARTS could easily accomodate 35,000+ ft. The first stage ignition and subsequent staging went beautifully. The sustainer stage then coasted to an easy 10,000 ft. Unfortunately the commercially bought electronics system for the upper stage went blank on the ascent. As a result the sustainer stage came in ballistic and lawn-darted into the hot Utah desert. The likely cause of the electronics failure was a bad solder joint not withstanding the Gee-forces, a problem we are looking to solve for future launches. 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.
The design of DARTS was also presented at the 2008 AIAA Region VI Student Conference. Daedalus team members Jacob Dennis, Steven Shark, and AJ Colangelo were able to take home first place and then presented at the AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting (ASM) International Student Conference. Though they did not win in the International competition, the presentation was very well received to a crowded room.
The original ESRA design and competition paper can be found here: 3rd Annual ESRA University Rocket Competition Paper.pdf .
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