Author Archives: Ian

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Launch Day!

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Both the NASA Student Launch and LDRS rockets are scheduled to launch tomorrow (Saturday, April 8th)! The NSL team will be launching their 13-ft tall, 47.5 lb Apis I with it’s vision recognition/camera aiming payload in Alabama; and the LDRS team will be launching the upper stage of Taurus I in Maryland. Check out the Current Projects tab for more information on our teams’ projects this year, and also be sure to watch the NSL live stream tomorrow to see all 40+ NSL launches in realtime. We will be launching at approximately 10:00 am CT.

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This week at SOAR — getting ready for competition!

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This is an exciting week for SOAR! Both the Large Dangerous Rocket Ships (LDRS) and NASA Student Launch (NSL) teams are all hands on deck, working on last minute preparations for both events in just a couple of days! Many hundreds of hours have gone into both of these projects, so it’s amazing to finally see them come to fruition.

The NSL team had their rocket (Apis I) painted as gift from Jim’s Body Shop in a beautiful bright green, white, and metallic gold (USF’s colors) scheme, while the computer science, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering specialists worked on final updates to the navigation and vision software as well as assembling the landing module itself. The rocket was even featured on Tampa’s FOX 13 News, and it looks amazing. This rocket will be launching at Bragg Farm in Toney, AL on Saturday, April 8th. More information for spectators and interested parties can be found here, and a remote live stream can be accessed here on launch day.

The LDRS team also placed the finishing touches on their two-stage rocket (Taurus I), installing a camera and painting it in-house using professional airbrushing techniques. This 24′ tall rocket will launching at Higgs Farm in Price, MD, sometime during the weekend of April 6th – 9th. More info on this event can be found here.

Finally, be sure to subscribe to @USFSOAR and @StudentLaunch on Instagram and Twitter for the latest up-to-the-minute updates as it happens.

Stay tuned for updates, photos, and videos to follow after this week! As always, recent photos up to now are attached below:

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Final Launch Day (Before Competition)

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On Saturday, March 18th, the NSL team successfully completed the final test launch prior to the competition launch on Saturday, April 9th! For more information on the competition, including dates and location, see the event brochure. You can also tune into the live stream at Ustream on April 9th to see the launch remotely.

For this test launch, we continued to use a test payload, as our landing module isn’t quite ready for a full test yet. The rocket completed a successful ejection test prior to the launch (as pictured below), which tests the rocket’s ability to separate the sections with parachutes effectively using carefully measured black powder charges. The launch itself was a great success and we reached an apogee (maximum altitude) of 4,159 ft (1267 m), about 1,000 ft. (300 m) lower than our goal of 1.0 mile (1600 m). Photos and videos are below:

Click here for a video of the launch.

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Flight Readiness Review Report

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This is just a heads up that we have published our final report before the actual NASA Student Launch in Alabama next month. This report (the Flight Readiness Review Report or FRR) is 145 pages long and represents our entire project, including test data, launches, safety information, budgeting, and our final plans. It can be accessed along with our previous reports at http://www.usfsoar.com/projects/nsl-2016-2017/. Go check it out!

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Full-Scale Launch Day

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On Saturday, February 20, 2017, the NSL team completed their first full-scale test launch for the 2016-17 season! After a succesful black powder separation test on the ground and despite heavy rain, the launch proceeded as planned. While they didn’t hit the target apogee of 5,280 feet (1,610 m) (reaching approximately 3,600 feet (1,100 m) instead), all stages did separate as planned. The parachutes for the main rocket body and landing module deployed and proved sufficient, while the parachute for the nose cone was tangled and did not fully deploy. Despite this, no components suffered any damage due to the soft ground of the launch field and the sturdy nature of the nose cone.

Videos:

Gallery:

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February Build Days

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SOAR has held two build days so far in February, on the 4th and the 11th. During these workdays extensive progress was made in all of SOAR’s major projects, including NSL and LDRS.

Don’t miss us at the USF Engineering EXPO tomorrow!

NASA Student Launch

The NSL computer science team continued to develop the code for both the steering and the vision systems in the landing module. The module can now turn towards a GPS destination and fly in that direction. Current remaining challenges include accounting for wind speed and optimizing the vision system code. The navigation code is located on GitHub.

The mechanical engineering team also worked on the landing module/steering system, and are on track to finish the hardware by February 18th, barring any setbacks. The main issue facing this team is a design flaw in the top of the landing module, where the strip of phenolic is too thin and needs to be reinforced.

The rocketry team prepared the full-scale rocket for this weekend’s test launch by completing all the aeropoxy fillets, installing the black powder reservoirs, constructing bulkheads, packing and fitting components, preparing the simulated weight payload, installing shear pins, and installing the motor retainer ring.

Large Dangerous Rocket Ships

The LDRS team continued to prepare for the event by installing carbon fiber over the fin fillets and working on the second stage of the rocket. All components were successfully test fit and the 24′-tall fully-assembled rocket will easily top the height of a multi-story building.

Partially assembled LDRS rocket, with people for scale. This does not include the nose section or rear fins.

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2nd January Build Day

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On Sunday, January 29th, SOAR held a general build day for all projects at our workshop space. Progress was made on all three of our main projects — NSL, LDRS, and FSGC.

NASA Student Launch

The NSL rocketry team worked on test-fitting components and tweaking rocket layout. They also began the process of epoxying the fillets for the fins, which will take a total of three build days. The computer science and electrical engineering teams worked on tweaking the code for the landing module, getting it to use rotors to face towards a specific compass heading and lock onto that direction. That code is located on GitHub and the effect is shown in the video below.

 

Large Dangerous Rocket Ships

The LDRS rocket tubes were wet-sanded to prepare for painting, and the fin fillets finished with more sanding. The engines to be used at LDRS were recieved and inventoried. On February 1, the team met separately to begin preparing the booster motor mount with the installation of the first fin.

FSGC Hybrid Competition

The Hybrid Rockets Team finished installing their fins and assembled the altimeter bay. All that’s left for this projec before the competition is to insert the parachute, install the motor retainer, and epoxy the top part of the bulkhead plate.

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General Body Meeting

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Our general body meeting last week, on January 5th, had a great turnout! SOAR members were updated on new policies, current project statuses (see the individual project pages for more info), and upcoming events. New project leaders were introduced and the beginning of the appointment process for next year’s main leadership positions was announced. Afterwards, the NSL computer science team went to the DFX Lab to work on the code for the landing module in preparation for the January  29th build day.

SOAR’s January 25 general body meeting.

 

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LDRS Launch Day (With Videos)

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The Large Dangerous Rocket Ships team, who is working on a multi-stage rocket, recently took the stage at SOAR’s first launch day of 2017! This launch day, held on January 21st at Varn Ranch, was a huge success. The LDRS team was able to launch and collect data for the main stage of the rocket, as shown in the images and videos below. Next they will work on completing the booster stage for an even larger, higher-reaching rocket.

The top stage of the LDRS rocket soars to new heights at the January 2017 launch day.

The LDRS rocket on the launch rail, waiting for takeoff.

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January Build Day & Update

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On Sunday, January 15th, SOAR held a general build day for the NSL and FSGC Hybrid projects.

NASA Student Launch

Since the last build days, the NSL team has been busy working on the Critical Design Review Report, a 120-page document detailing our plans and data. This can be retrieved from the NSL page on our website.

The NSL team continued to work on the full-scale rocket and its programming.

NASA FSGC Hybrid Competition

The hybrid team began the assembling their rocket, building the motor mount and epoxying it in place with two of three fins.