May 2019 - Castle Point Rocketry

News

New Lab Space

May 30, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

For the last year, Castle Point Rocketry has practically worked out of whatever space is available. When we first drafted our Initial Proposal in May 2018, we practically lived out of a design loft for three days straight. As the reports got longer, parts started coming in, and a rocket took shape, though, we needed more sophisticated options.

Until a few weeks ago, our working situation was fairly spread out. Half of our time was spent in a windowless, cubbyhole office on the fourth floor of the Edwin A. Stevens building, barely big enough for the eight of us. The other half was spent on the design floor of the Griffith Building, the closest Stevens had to a fully-functional maker space. (And also home to Physical Plant.) Then, we got news that they were remodeling Griffith — starting with where we did the most of our rocket construction.

A new concrete lab being constructed where our clean room once was.

In a frenzied two days, all hands were on deck to rearrange our materials, our work, and our lives. Our EAS cache was moved down to Griffith, then everything was moved to fit in one of two places: Our parking lot shipping container or our new work space. Moving everything from the Griffith design floor to the smaller room in back was… more time-consuming than you may think.

Our new workspace, in the back of the Griffith Building.

The new space we occupy is just big enough for out needs. It’s also slated for renovation — luckily after we finish, though. In the picture above, you can see our whole layout. We have an 8-person table, access to the outdoors (!), a corridor for electronics, and our clean room. Inside the clean room, you can see the outline of our rocket taking shape.

In addition to our team, Stevens Solar Splash got displaced. Our teams share this new space, so there are times when we have thirteen bodies, a rocket, and a boat all crammed into this room. It’s a tight fit, but we make it work — amicably, too!

Out back of our new lab, we have a stunning NYC skyline layered behind more concrete lab material. This breathtaking backdrop has served as motivation and invitation, both. Looking up from a challenging design problem to see the city is certainly refreshing! Additionally, we have had the pleasure of hosting many stakeholders (administration and sponsors alike) in our new space. Most recently, Castle Point Rocketry has welcomed President Nariman Farvardin, Dean Jean Zu, Laura Overdeck, and Chris Daggett for a quick tour.

Uncategorized

Engine!

May 15, 2019June 5, 2020
by Nate

Two Thursdays ago, we received the first full print of our engine from SLM Solutions. Naturally, we were very excited, but we needed to get the build plates removed as quickly as possible. We got in touch with NJ Precision Technologies, who amazingly were able to Wire EDM cut the parts by Friday morning.

Internal x-ray photography of our engine.

When I visited NJPT, I met Bob Tarantino, President and Founder of the company, and he showed me around their facilities, including several Mitsubishi Wire EDM machines, HAAS CNCs, and a 6-axis Zeiss CMMs. I was blown away by their manufacturing capabilities as well as how friendly and interested in our project they were. And, they referenced us to another company, G. Cotter, to perform a couple welds on the nozzle to repair surface discontinuities.

At G. Cotter, just a couple miles from NJPT, before welding, they offered to x-ray our nozzle (above), which was a very pleasant surprise. They confirmed that the surface issues were not a structural problem. Plus, we get a view of the print’s regenerative cooling tubes! They then performed some of the most excellent welds I’ve seen (below). Now all that is left for a completed engine is heat treatment. Nonetheless, she looks absolutely stunning.

Finally, a fully-printed model of our engine.

Uncategorized

CPR Ties for First Place!

May 15, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

You may recall Technogenesis. Colloquially called “TG,” it’s the entrepreneurship analog course to Senior Design. TG is designed to teach every team the metrics of making a business out of our projects. Most importantly, it teaches everyone the impact of a good pitch.

The culmination of the Stevens Innovation Expo is the elevator pitch competition — recently rebranded as the Ansary Entrepreneurship Competition. Ten teams compete for $17,500 in prize money. And we tied for first!

The team with our comically large check. We tied for first place!

The Ansary Entrepreneurship Competition is the final round in a series of judged pitches. The quarterfinals are a combination of two votes. First, all teams present in class to a panel of TG professors. Then, the public votes on each team’s pitch video on YouTube.

Castle Point Rocketry’s official TG video.

Castle Point Rocketry passed the quarterfinals on the public vote. Two weeks later, we also passed the semifinals, which left us with about a week to prepare for the Ansary Entrepreneurship Competition. Faris, our resident Pitch Master, worked overtime to make sure the pitch was the best it could be.

We were pretty happy with how he sounded — and apparently the judges were, too! The rest of the team joined Faris on stage after his pitch to answer any questions, of which there were only two. After the other nine teams pitched, they announced the co-winners: LifeSkills Software and Castle Point Rocketry! Castle Point Rocketry also won the “Audience Choice” award.

Our teams are are splitting the $15,000 reserved for the first- and second place teams. (They weren’t expecting a tie!) Castle Point Rocketry’s $7,500 will cover our transportation to and from the launch site. Stay tuned for more exciting updates!

Uncategorized

What’s the big deal about the Karman Line, again?

May 7, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

We do a lot of talk about “space” and the “Karman Line” in our social media and these blogs. But what does that mean? What’s the big deal?

Space is a vacuum. It’s the area above our planet’s atmosphere where there is nothing — so it’s all of the nothingness between our planet and all of the other celestial bodies. (Venus, the Sun, the asteroids, and black holes all included.)

Our solar system. Space extends much beyond this, though.

The Earth’s atmosphere isn’t pure. At various places around the globe, you can find various concentrations of essential gasses in the air. (Nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and carbon dioxide are the key players.) However, the atmosphere also changes as you travel upwards. You know when flight attendants give that speech about air masks? That’s because the air at 33,000 feet is much thinner than at sea level — the atmosphere is less dense.

A prominent Hungarian-born aerospace engineer, Theodore von Kármán, spent much of his life studying jet engines at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He noticed that engine efficiency decreases alongside air density. At a certain point (100 km above sea level, about 62 miles), the atmosphere becomes so thin that engines simply don’t work any more.

That is the Karman Line.

A cartoon of the various sections of the Earth’s atmosphere. The Karman Line is highlighted in red.

So why does Castle Point Rocketry want to get there? Well, there’s a bit of an unofficial space race happening between colleges, at the moment. Space Enterprise at UC Berkeley has released a challenge to all other colleges: Who can get to the Karman Line (and therefore space) first?

So far, the record is held by University of Southern California — 44 km. Just under half the way there. Other key contenders are Boston University, UC San Diego, Delft University of Technology, and our very own neighbors, Princeton University.

So, Castle Point Rocketry is here to settle it. Who will be the first into space? Stevens Institute of Technology, obviously.

Uncategorized

Innovation Expo 2019

May 5, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

This past Friday, May 3, 2019, marked the annual Stevens Institute of Technology Innovation Expo. 189 senior projects were presented by individuals and teams from all four schools at Stevens: the College of Arts and Letters, the School of Business, the School of Systems and Enterprises, and the School of Engineering and Science.

Even Stevens’ mascot, Attila, dropped by!

Castle Point Rocketry occupied a series of tables in the Griffith Building, located beneath campus on the Hudson River. Alongside many other building-intensive teams, we presented our project to students, professors, Hoboken residents, and potential investors alike.

We brought out all of our toys for show and tell.

From 10:30am to 3:00pm, members of our team rotated through presenting at the table. Notable visitors included Attila the Duck (Stevens’s mascot), Dr. Nariman Farvardin (President of Stevens), Graham Boyd (our Regional Manager for SLM Solutions), and Bob Freno (Principal Member of Engineering Staff at L3 Technologies).

Our quarter-length airframe assembly was a crowd favorite.

Uncategorized

Airframe Time!

May 2, 2019June 5, 2020
by Nate

Here’s the dilemma. We need the strongest, lightest skeleton possible for our rocket. The obvious choice for material is aerospace grade aluminum. (6061-T6, duh.) We also need to cut a ton of pieces, and need them done fast. The usual way to do that is with a CNC milling machine, but that can take a while and be very expensive. Also, when you cut a piece of metal with a saw or a milling machine, the metal heats up causing it to anneal and weaken. So what’s the solution?

One of the CNC waterjet cutters at New Jersey Waterjet.

Waterjet cutting is the solution!! The helpful staff at New Jersey Waterjet were able to take our CAD files and produce 30 perfectly-cut parts in just under a week.

An original drawing, fresh from our CAD software

Waterjet cutting uses a high pressure stream of water and abrasive sand to cut through nearly anything. In addition to being fast and precise, waterjet cutting actively cools the parts, preventing them from becoming annealed.

These parts will hold together the whole rocket, so it’s a good thing they’re strong.