This paper seeks to present a simulation — validated design for a sounding rocket that will enable collegiate teams to surpass the Karman Line for the first time in history while fulfilling three primary requirements critical to allowing collegiate teams to reach space. The design criteria include 1) the rocket must be capable of reaching an altitude of at least 100 km, 2) the rocket must be relatively easy to manufacture and free of toxic materials, and 3) the rocket must be able to return telemetry, video, and data from on board experiments. To reach 100 km, the rocket will utilize a pressure — fed bipropellant engine and lightweight CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced polymer) for much of the outer skin and control surfaces. To reduce cost and environmental impact, the engine will burn a mixture of nitrous oxide and jet fuel, one of the only pairs of readily available, non — toxic, high energy propellants. The engine will deliver an average specific impulse of 204 s with an average thrust of 11 kN. To accomplish the second goal of non — toxicity and ease of manufacturing, the rocket will be constructed from commercially available, non — toxic materials and will lack features such as ablative coatings and intricately shaped components. With the exception of the thermal coatings, the entire vehicle will be made from stainless steel, aluminum, titanium alloy, and carbon fiber. To reduce toxicity, the thermal coatings for both the nose cone and combustion chamber will be comprised of non — toxic silicon dioxide, which has the advantage of not releasing vapor when heated. Additionally, every component of the rocket except for the fuel injector face plate and thermal coatings will be made with equipment commonly found in university machine shops. To recover telemetry and experimental data, the forward section of the rocket will detach at apogee via non — explosive Frangibolts® and return to Earth via parachute. Since the remainder of the rocket will be lost, the rocket body is designed to retain aerodynamic stability after nose cone separation so that its flight can be planned to reduce risk to downrange areas. Additionally, on board Iridium transceiver equipment allows for remote control of the rocket in flight and permit the payload to be easily located and recovered upon landing. Fluid dynamics analysis completed through Autodesk CFD of the rocket's design indicates that it retains aerodynamic stability through all flight phases and is able to recover from significant course deviations while at subsonic velocity, although control authority diminishes rapidly in supersonic flight. Additionally, stress analysis on structural elements shows a retention of structural rigidity from initial engine start, through mach transitions, and until engine burnout at T+70 seconds. This design fulfills all stated design parameters with >10% margins of error across all parts and calculations, indicating that it is a viable means of enabling universities to directly access space.


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    Title :

    Space-capable sounding rocket design for collegiate teams


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    2018-03-01


    Size :

    830180 byte




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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