Projects

Fool's Journey

Overview

Fool's Journey was the first high powered rocket I ever worked on. It was a team effort during my freshman year in college, under RIT's rocketry team Launch Initiative. Fool's Journey was L2 class, white with orange accents, and simulated to reach an apogee of over 5000 ft. Unfortunately by the time the rocket got completed, project deadlines and finals began to consume our time, and we never got around to launching it. Regardless, it's a beautiful display piece, and ready for flight whenever one of us decides to take the project on again.

Specifications

• L2 class high power rocket
• Targeted apogee: 4488 ft
• Height: 5' 8.5"
• Motor Total Impulse: 2772 N*s
• Motor Max Thrust: 1590 N
• Deployment Method: Electronically triggered black powder charges

What I Contributed

I was the Avionics lead for this project, so I was the one stuck wiring everything up. I handled battery management, wiring the system so that it would survive going above mach, and configuring the flight computers to trigger events at the appropriate times. For the electronics, I used dual redundant Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) flight computers and GPS Telemetry systems, both build by the company Eggtimer.

In addition, I helped create the CAD design of the rocket and did the necessary recovery calculations to ensure that we could get the rocket back in one piece.