University Student Launch Initiative -- We Made It Again!

Our proposal was accepted, so Iowa State is now one of 42 universities competing in USLI.

The University Student Launch Initiative (USLI) is a NASA competition for universities across the country to design, build and launch a high-power rocket to an altitude of 5280 feet (1 mile). The rocket is designed to carry a scientific or engineering payload of the team's own creation. The launch is down in Huntsville Alabama near the Marshall Space Flight Center every April. Throughout the school year each team must submit four reports; the initial proposal, the preliminary design review (PDR), the critical design review (CDR), the flight readiness review (FRR) and finally the post-launch assessment review (PLAR). Other requirements are to create and up-keep a team website, and to conduct educational outreach activities on space and rocketry, or other scientific or engineering related disciplines.

Last year I signed on to the project as an exciting activity for my freshman year at Iowa State. It was such a good experience that this year I am co-leading the project.

We began meeting in early September to discuss what the project was going to be about this year. The payload concept had to be decided first, because it would dictate what sort of launch vehicle would be able to take it to a mile. There were many concepts proposed, including the following:

• Self-retrieving rocket (almost a joke, really)
• Load cells on fins/other protrusions to measure drag
• Deploy a rover on landing (similar to Arizona last year)
• Reconnaissance controlled descent vehicle

It was clear that we wanted to expand on last year's project and do a controlled descent vehicle, but with a twist, using the payload as a video surveillance platform to observe the ground. Our main concern was that a parachute recovery system was going to rock/sway/spin too much, so we began to explore other options such as helicopter recovery.

Somewhere along the line, somebody suggested powering the helicopter and going for a full-fledged UAV. This suggestion was initially met with some skepticism, since it would greatly magnify the complexity of the system.

Our current plan is to go for a quadcopter system, with hinges on the four deployment arms so that the payload can fit snugly into the rocket body. The nose cone will be part of the payload; a clear plastic hemispherical dome. The camera will be on a pan and tilt system using a motor and servo, and will transmit live HD video to a ground tracking station.

One of the benefits of this option is that the user can keep an eye in the sky for as long as the battery will last, which would be much longer than the time it would take for the payload to fall, retarded only by the free-spinning helicopter blades. This extra time-aloft increases the return on the significant cost of rocket-assisted deployment.

The launch vehicle concept is currently to construct it from fiberglass with a 7.7 inch outer diameter. The motor we currently plan to use is a Cesaroni L1115, which would take a 10-lb payload approximately 5500 feet. It's always good to design the rocket to fly higher than it's supposed to, because the rocket tends to be heavier than RockSim predicts and have a higher drag coefficient than RockSim predicts. Also, after the test launch in mid-February, if it is determined that the rocket will fly too high, additional mass can be added to bring the altitude down to the desired level.

One concept for the launch vehicle is to use air-brakes to keep the rocket from going over a mile. Judging from success rates of attempts in the past, this would be a very challenging design feature to implement. We're currently exploring the feasibility of this option.

We are all very excited about this project. I think we have a good plan, and a lot of good, fresh ideas. The team of roughly 12-15 students has a nice variety of skills, majors, experience, etc.

More updates will follow regularly. When the team website is up and running I will post a link. When we begin work on the project I will also post YouTube videos.

Falcon 9 Demonstration Flight

Today SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 vehicle, to demonstrate its reliability as a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services vehicle (COTS) for NASA. The launch was successful.

First Multi-staging Success

My summer-long project of multi-staging rockets has had its first success! I staged Double-Trouble from a 137 N-sec G80 motor to a G71 Redline motor. There isn't any data on this flight since I could spare any more weight for electronics, but I got a video. Even that is so-so; I'm so excited when it works that I totally loose sight of the rocket.

1:10 Scale Saturn V Rocket

I heard about this a little late, but apparently it set a record for size:

Name

I was determined to name it, so I borrowed a name from my sister's Nanooks in Pajamas.

Exporter 2000

First Launch of the Year!

I have about 80 dollars hanging in a tree right now...

Yesterday afternoon I suggested opening the flying season with the flight of an unnamed rocket whose official title is "Project 3 Rocket 2." This rocket is sort of becoming the mascot rocket of DTH Rocket Endeavors, and it needs a name. I'm open to suggestions!

I had plenty of spectators, which always makes a launch more worth while. The liftoff was so astounding that my spectators were shocked, enthusiastically astonished and pumped with alacrity. It was a near perfect flight...

But there was one problem: it never came back. The rocket soared to apogee, deployed the 'chute, and went drifting off over the horizon. I was a little dismayed, to say the least. I was watching as my rocket with that 70 dollar reloadable motor in it went sailing off into the distance... perhaps never to be seen again?

After long hours searching all afternoon, I finally found it: tangled 50 feet high in a tree about a half mile from where it had been launched. It had traveled the length of a sod field, over a strip of woods, across another sod field, and over a busy road (I can just see the drivers' faces, seeing a large black rocket floating by) where it finally came to rest at the top of a tall oak.

Sigh

I have to get it back right away, because you're supposed to clean the reloadable motor within 24 hours, because the burned propellant can eat away at the casing. This is sure going to take some creative thinking!

About DTH Rocket Endeavors

DTH Rocket Endeavors started with one individual (me) who looked to the skies. Up in that big, blue expanse the Lord's wonders were displayed, which put a fascination for it in me. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." ~Psalm 19:1. I decided that I wanted to fly, and explore the vast firmament that God created.

I began by building model rockets. The first ones I made were pretty bad: I made them out of duct tape mostly, they didn't have a recovery device, and almost all of them were unstable and thus spun loop de loops in the sky when ignited.

It wasn't until I checked out a book at the library called "The Handbook of Model Rocketry" by G. Harry Stine that my rockets began to improve. I learned about static and dynamic stability, how to put a recovery device into a rocket, how to build a good motor mount, about engine selection, and even advanced topics such as multistaging, cluster ignition, and altitude prediction. Then I learned about high-power rocketry (HPR), and that's when I really decided to pursue rocketry.

Currently I am building large model rockets, which are defined as between 16 and 53 ounces in weight, using no more than 4.4 ounces of propellant, creating no more than 320 N-seconds of Total Impulse. The motor classification ranges from size E to G.

The first large model rocket that I built and flew was for my clay animation short film "The Curious Squirrel from Earth," and in it I built a cockpit for a small clay squirrel. At the time it was the most successful rocket I had built, and the flight was observed and greatly cheered by several enthusiastic spectators. Here is a video of that amazing flight:

Already I am taking on ambitious projects, like breaking the sound barrier, and building high-power rockets (although I can't fly them until I am 18 and have a certification).

When I get older I plan to major in aerospace engineering, then start a real aerospace company, or work for the US Air Force, or something along those lines. But in the meantime, I'll keep on learning on my own.

But whatever I do, it's all about God. I strive to honor him in all I do. What better a place than the heavens to marvel at his magnificence?

"...Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." ~1 Corinthians 10:31