Prototype
The rocket being constructed to test the experimental motors has been completed. All components have been purchased, and all custom machining has been completed. The fin can has been completely assembled and mounted into to booster section of the rocket, and all portions of the body tube have been cut to length. Following the complete assembly of the rocket it was then painted. The electronics bay has also been completed, with the flight computer, accelerometer, and all separation hardware having been mounted to the electronics bay structure. The rocket was completed on time for its launch on April 29th, 2017. The rocket flew two successful flights with two successful recoveries without any damage being taken to the structure. This met the reusability criteria set forth in our metrics of success.
As of May 7th, 2017, we have mixed 6.2 kilograms across 8 different mixtures, with each mixture having different percentages of the chemical components. All of these mixtures have been tested, and have had thrust curves generated from the tests. Our final batch was mixed on April 22nd and 24th, and was tested April 27th and 28th. This mixture was intended to be our launch mixture, and was based on a previous mixture with which we had received good results. Unfortunately these finals two tests raised safety concerns, because the propellant cause the failure of two motor casings. Because of this we decided that it was unsafe to launch these motors in a rocket, where there would be not test stand to contain a motor failure. So for our April 29th launch we used purchased motors to validate our onboard data collection system.
Most Recent Motor Test
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