December 2018 - Castle Point Rocketry

It Go Up, It Come Down… Slower

December 18, 2018June 5, 2020
by Dakota

Imagine it’s June 2019. Castle Point Rocketry is on the launchpad at Spaceport America.

The timer goes *beep*. The valves go *click*. The propulsion system goes *ffffshshshhhh*. The engine goes *bbbbhgggghgggghhh*. The rocket goes up. The engine stops. The rocket hits 100km. (The ground crew cheers.)

The rocket turns over and comes back down… and luckily isn’t traveling at terminal velocity when it hits the ground. Why? Our friends at Fruity Chutes, Inc.

After a rigorous set of tests carried out in our Global HQ on Stevens campus, we were satisfied that Fruity Chutes, Inc. had made us suitable chutes.

For those unfamiliar with our current design, we will be employing a double-chute system. Way up in the uninhabited region of the atmosphere, our handy nosecone will pop off and deploy a drogue chute. This helps make sure the rocket doesn’t tumble and snap in two. Much closer to the ground, our bigger chute (not shown) will snap out of hiding, adding drag to give our rocket enough air resistance to fall at a slow enough pace that we can track it and make sure it lands in one piece.

Thanks, Fruity Chutes. We couldn’t do it without you.

News

“Will It Fly?”

December 18, 2018June 5, 2020
by Dakota

It may be the the question we ask ourselves the most. (Behind, of course, “What’s for lunch” and “How’d your exam go?”) The answer: “Ask NASA.” (To them all, obviously.)

Most recently, it’s fallen to the ChemE team to answer this question. Initial assumptions of the chemical reactions out of the way, it’s time to buckle down and do some hardcore engineering.

And when you need to engineer something, who better to turn to than NASA?

Using a little-known software called CEA (made available online as CEARUN), we’ve been iteratively testing hundreds of fuel combinations and engine conditions over the last few days to comb through and find The One.

It’s not every program that can crank out 23,000-some lines of code in under five seconds. That’s just the NASA difference, I guess.

Sending a Signal Over 3000 Feet

December 7, 2018June 5, 2020
by ben

When determining where to launch, there were many regulations which we had to abide by. One of the challenges we faced was that the launch command could not be sent over a wireless connect. Instead, it would have to be sent over a physical connection for security purposes. Additionally, the mission control center had to be located 3000 feet away from the launch site. Our goal was to find a way to send a signal over a physical connection at a distance of 3000 feet.

I incorrectly surmised that I could send the connection over Ethernet. Upon further study, I found out that Ethernet cables have a maximum distance of 250 feet. I then concluded that the solution would be to get a repeater. This would total about 12 repeaters needed throughout the process, all of which would need to be hooked up to a power source. This is not practical for the goals we have set in place.

I then researched and looked into fiber optic cables. I could convert a signal from Ethernet -> fiber optic -> Ethernet. The fiber optic cable could send enough bandwidth over a distance of 3000 feet to satisfy pre-launch communication. After determining the exact type of fiber optic cable needed and the type of connection that would satisfy the signal converters, we directed our attention towards our future purchase. We are currently in communication with L-com and we hope that they will be able to supply the needed materials.