81.5

Mission system: LOPSIDED-POS

Challenge: This challenge required teams to deploy a lander during the rocket’s descent. Once on the ground, the lander had to perform a 360-degree site survey by taking a panoramic photograph.

Design & Execution: The payload was named LOPSIDED, housing the Planetary Observation System (POS) camera array. LOPSIDED was retained in the payload bay top-first, held by an electronic rotary latch and nylon shear pins. At apogee, the latch unlocked, leaving only the shear pins retaining the payload. At 700 ft AGL, the main parachute deployed, pulling LOPSIDED upward, breaking the shear pins, and extracting it from the payload bay. Redundant Jolly Logic Chute Releases prevented premature payload parachute deployment until 600 ft AGL. At 500 ft AGL, an ARRD (Advanced Retention Release Device) separated LOPSIDED from the main recovery harness, allowing it to descend under its own independent parachute. After landing, two solenoid latches unlocked, allowing LOPSIDED to self-level via gravity. Once settled, the onboard Raspberry Pi simultaneously captured images from the Planetary Observation System camera modules and executed a stitching algorithm to produce a leveled 360-degree panorama of the landing site.brakes, featuring a linearly-actuated flap design that successfully deployed.