Small Rocket Project

The Full Carbon Rocket This post aims at showing the final configuration of the rocket giving insight in the details of many subsystems previously not explained. Lower section Arm switch, on off switch, break-wire and LED The electronics part was contained in the upper section. However it had to be linked to the parachute bay in order to trigger the pyro charge.   Another important detail was the placement of the switches so that they could be turned on and off from the outside of the rocket. A bulkhead was placed on top of the parachute bay; this had a hole to allow the connection with the pyro charge and it had a bolt on which the stage structure could be screwed on. In addition a metal ring was glued on top of the bulkhead to allow for the switches to be placed on; in this manner a small chamber between the middle and the upper section was created to host the cabling and the switches. Stage Structure, Electronics and wiring   One of the most challengin...

As mentioned in the post "Requirement Analysis and Conceptual Design", the rocket had to mount a pressure sensor in order to accurately measure the altitude at which the parachute had to be deployed. In fact the board provided by the electronic  team of DARE alone had a timer only; using the timer only to deploy the parachute would have meant trusting completely the simulations done on Open Rocket. However those simulations do not take account of the actual density and pressure at the launch site, the wind speed and direction. For this reason a pressure sensor was used to deploy the parachute exactly at the altitude needed. Hardware An Arduino Nano and a BMP 180 pressure sensor were purchased; because the pressure sensor was an Adafruit product the library had to be imported in order to read the measurement from the pressure sensor. The wiring is very easy and it can be found in many Adafruit guides. The hardest part was to allocate some space for the wires in the stage ...

This post aims at showing the methods that were used to produce the fins and the main tube also showing a comparison between the carbon nose cone and the balsa nose cone. Safety Recommendations When cutting any type of carbon sheet make sure to wear a musk not to inhale any toxic fibre Always place the carbon in a close storage so that it is stored safely   Use gloves when handling resin and hardener Manufacturing the Tube Material Needed Carbon Fibre Sock (Bidirectional Fibre) PVC Tube of external diameter equal to internal diameter of the rocket Wax Resin Hardener Big dimension shrinking tube  Hair dryer/hot air gun Paper Tape Brush Carbon Sock Sample Procedure Wax the PVC tube on the outside over which the carbon fibre sock will be placed. Leave the wax for more than 2 hours and repeat the process at least twice before starting with the lay-up Create a stand that will allow you to work on the carbon sock over the PV...

So where to start building a rocket? Even though a small rocket such as the one the WBPP didn't have many subsystems, we split up the group so that each one of us could look at the requirement and design his subsystem and then present it to the others. However before going too much into the details of the rocket, the software Open Rocket was used to  come up with a first design iteration of our "space" vehicle making sure to meet the requirements given by the safety board. Eventually each subsystem was considered individually and considering load cases, ease of manufacture and systems accessibility before launch design decisions were made.  Open Rocket Estimations The engine file corresponding to the one that our rocket would have mounted was uploaded to the designing file; this would have granted us to have reasonable prediction of the rocket's flight in absence of wind. Since the team opted for a separation of the rocket in two parts at the moment of the parac...

The first stage of the design phase was analysing the requirements and understanding how they would have affected the rocket subsystems. The team had to come up with a preliminary design at the end of the first three weeks and present it to the senior members of the society. In this way the design could be reviewed and a check of the progress of the subsystems could be carried out. The first step was sketching and coming up with ideas for the rocket systems; as a matter of fact the WBPP started dividing the rocket in three sections:  Upper section: this section would have contained the payload, and the electronics Middle section: this section was dedicated to the parachute; from the beginning the team opted for an axial recovery system that would split the rocket in two parts.  Lower section: the engine which was already provided and it was not object of the design nor investigation.  Exploration An exploration design process started; considerations and design...

Following the system engineering design, the first step to start with the preliminary design of the rocket was understanding the requirements that the mission involved. Generating a requirement list was essential in order to give a more accurate shape to the product we had to obtain. An analysis of the subsystems of the rocket was also made and requirement concerning different subsystems were generated. Requirements List: The maximum flight-time has to be 90 s. This is established by NAVRO which is the association in the Netherlands for amatory rockets. In fact the rocket had to land inside the military area at 't Hard; considering the worse case scenario in terms of wind speed and direction, a maximum time flight was determined considering that the rocket could not go out of the military area in it surely didn't have to fly towards the observatory area. The air space was closed over the military area for the period of duration of the launches. However the maximum ...

When the team first joint together at the Korelev Lab of the Delft Aerospace Rocket Society, there was a mixture of tension and excitement in everyone's eyes. As the teams were formed, a thin layer of rivalry and competition appeared. When the member of what then would have been called the WBPP came together, it was clear that everyone was coming from different background having different expertise; would that be enough to achieve the mission? How cultural differences in the team would have been overcame? What about the name for the team?  A pyjama party is a festive get together. Depending on your stage in life the association with a pyjama party changes,  a change of perspective that also reflects on the life of Wernher von Braun.  Wernher von Braun’s Pyjama Party stands for getting new insights during a group process based around a shared goal, but most of all having fun. Everyone was questioning weather or not the team he/she ended up was the right one and weat...

The small rocket project is a project for bachelor students of engineering faculties at TU Delft who wants to have practical experience in building an amateur rocket. The project is every year organized by the senior members of DARE ( Delft Aerospace Rocket Society ). Students who wants to take part in the project are divided in teams; the ultimate mission of every team is the following: "Launching a small rocket able to reach about 1000 meters of altitude mounting an egg as a payload and recovering it intact". On top of gaining practical experience, experiencing the full cycle design of a rocket and improving team working skills, the SRP gives young students the chance of getting to know the rocket society, their team leaders and the project carried out in the society. The WBPP team at work at the military base of 'T Hard Students experience a full cycle engineering design from the conceptual design, to testing and finally to the launch of the rocket. Teams ...

The aim of this blog was not really clear to the writer at the beginning: there was the wish of bringing together all the knowledge created during the designing and manufacturing process of the rocket; at the same time it was important to document every bit of the experience transmitting the reader the joy of doing such project.  In other words if on the one side the reader will know the procedures and the techniques used to manufacture and build an amatory rocket with the peculiar mission of mounting an egg as a payload and recovering it intact on the ground, on the other he/she will have a good laugh reading about the nerdy adventures of the team from February to May 2017. As a writer, I just hope to provide sufficient information to anyone who wants to reproduce the project, while keeping the narration entertaining and funny.