December 2, 2015
The Longhorn Rocketry Association (LRA) is hard at work on two projects this year. While some members continue to work on an interdisciplinary project that focuses on designing and building a stabilization system and a multistage rocket, others are focusing on a competition for this April.
In regards to the multistage rocket, LRA members completed their first cardboard prototype testing that checked the staging portion of the rocket.
The rocket consists of connecting two stages, one on top of the other. The bottom rocket’s job is to launch the entire rocket into the air, and at a certain altitude disconnect. After the separation, it is then up to the top rocket to reach x-amount of feet into the air.
Since the testing, team members have been focusing on the staging mechanism and the instabilities that can be caused after the separation of the rockets and are now redesigning the actual connection between both rockets.
“The first way we plan to avoid instability is by fine-tuning our electronics to stage sooner, which will help keep the rocket more stable because it will be going faster,” said Jesse Quattrociocchi, current project manager of the staged rocket team.
A second high-powered team is working on a canards flight control system that will help guide the ascent of a larger staged rocket in the future. The system will keep the direction of flight perpendicular to the Earth, and the ultimate goal is to assist the staged rocket when launching to 100,000 feet.
Once LRA is satisfied with the staging portion of the rocket, they will incorporate a canards flight control system on to the rocket.
Quattrociocchi said that a UT Austin mechanical engineering student is working with a Cockrell School of Engineering faculty member to develop and print a 3-D prototype for this staging mechanism. Meanwhile an electrical engineering student will be working on the rocket’s ground system and electronics. During this time, LRA will finalize designing and begin building Nether, which they are hoping to launch in April.
Nether will be the first of three rockets in the project and has a target altitude of 12,000 feet. LRA plans to work on the second rocket over the summer and launch it in the fall. It will have a target altitude of 50,000 feet. They will design, build and test the final rocket with the goal of reaching 100,000 feet and producing a successful stabilization system that will be integrated in the rocket.
Meanwhile other LRA members are preparing for the Central U.S. Rocketry Tournament (CURT), a new collegiate rocketry competition organized by Aero Mavericks at the University of Texas at Arlington.
The competition consists of three events: a maximum altitude flight, a budget rocket event, and a heavy lift rocket competition.
“By participating in CURT, we are hoping to both promote the LRA and gain experience in competing against other schools,” said Zach Ralstin, the LRA member in charge of the budget rocket team. “LRA has not focused on competitions in the past, and that is something we would like to change.”
The competition will be held in on April 2nd, 2016 at the Argonia, Kansas field.
