Design, Build, Launch
Design, build, and launch a model rocket.
The second project I tackled during my aerospace engineering bachelor was with SEDs, Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, UCF chapter. This project took me from aviation, to my passion of space. Here I was able to join a team and learn how to design a build a small model rocket, but with a more powerful motor. The rockets designed in this project all had I class motors, and at least a single parachute. As this was another competition, points were awarded for height, and bonus points for a parachute system with a drogue chute or extra bonus points for a dual-deployment parachute system. My team opted to design and build a rocket with a dual-deployment parachute system.
My part in this team was the parachute system, and especially the deployment system. To accomplished this, we outfitted the rocket with an Arduino nano, BMP180 pressure sensor, and a SD card reader/writer. My skills in programming were necessary for this position since I had to design the logic and program our deployment system.
The final deployment system recorded the raw altitude data from the pressure sensor, the adjusted pressure data, and a rolling average of this data. It also utilized this data to determine apogee of the craft, to arm the system, and to launch each parachute at the preset heights.
