2018-2019
No Promises
NASA Student Launch · Senior design and competition archive
Vehicle and season
The 2019 payload challenge was to deploy a drone (UAV) that deployed from the rocket after landing, flew, and deployed a navigation beacon at a designated area. This was one the first years that we really started to use 3d prints for substantial parts of the avionics/payload. Also we won the altitude award, being only 12 feet away from predicted apogee. Pictured in the top right is the subscale, Nice.
Mission system: The Eagle and the Egg
Challenge: NASA required students to design a UAV (drone) that could survive the extreme G-forces of launch inside the rocket. After landing, the rocket had to deploy the drone, which was required to autonomously fly to a specific coordinate zone and drop a navigation beacon to assist future hypothetical missions.
Design/Execution: The deployment bay was anchored by a robust 0.5-inch-thick birch plywood bulkhead. To keep the UAV secure during the violent boost and ejection phases, the team designed a custom latching mechanism powered by a stepper motor. This system tightly gripped the drone during flight and provided a clean release mechanism once the rocket was safely on the ground. After the launch vehicle touched down, the stepper motor actuated, releasing the latching mechanism and opening the deployment bay. The UAV powered up its rotors, launched directly from the rocket’s body, and executed an autonomous flight path to a predetermined coordinate.
Vehicle
No Promises
Mission
The Eagle and the Egg
Season
2018-2019