Dakota, Author at 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.

Meeting with Launcher

November 29, 2018June 5, 2020
by Dakota

Late Tuesday afternoon, we met with Launcher: A Brooklyn-based startup building rocket engines. Cool.

After a few months of back and forth e-mails with Max Haot, founder and CEO, we knew it was time for an in-person meet-up. After all, what they’re experimenting with is the stomach of our project!

President Nariman Farvardin arranged a meeting with Launcher — who very generously was able to give the time of Max and two engineers: Andre Ivankovic and Luis Alcalde. Launcher and Castle Point Rocketry met for 90 minutes to exchange design ideas, team pitfalls, and questions. Kishore Pochiraju, our lead faculty advisor, and President Farvardin attended as well.

Launcher’s Chamber/Injector Design. Source: launcherspace.com

I’m happy to say that I think we all learned a lot. Our relationship with Launcher is stronger than ever — and Stevens was able to found a relationship with them, too! Furthermore, Launcher has pledged the use of their test site for Castle Point Rocketry’s model engine test fires.

Launcher’s test facility is located in Calverton, NY, a nice hike out Long Island — though not nearly as far as the team would be driving without Launcher’s help.

We’re looking forward to a great wrap-up to this semester iterating on our injector and chamber designs, and we will be checking back in with Launcher periodically from here out!

Uncategorized

Official Stevens Article

November 15, 2018June 5, 2020
by Dakota

What do Elon Musk, Gen Z, and Castle Point Rocketry all have in common? We’re name-dropped in an article recently published by Stevens Institute of Technology.

A story regarding Castle Point Rocketry was circulated on the Stevens webpage. (And on all of the bulletin TVs around campus!) Following a meeting the team had with members of the Division of Communications and Marketing and the Schaefer School of Engineering and Science, the team’s enthusiasm about reaching the Karman line has officially been adopted into Stevens canon.

The authors of the article met not only with members of the team, but also spoke with a faculty advisor and a couple of our corporate sponsors. It’s always good for morale to hear yourselves called “ambitious and innovative” and “pioneering!”

You can read the full Stevens News article (and re-watch our initial pitch video) here.

News

Health and Safety Meet-Up

November 15, 2018June 5, 2020
by Dakota

Last week was a busy one — and one of Castle Point Rocketry’s myriad meetings was with David Fernandez, Stevens’s Director of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS). Obviously, this was pretty important.

David was instrumental in reminding us which materials could be stored on campus and which couldn’t. We held a great discussion about some of the pivots our team could move to, should the current course of action prove inviable. Finally, and most excitingly, we got to go “shopping” for new clothes.

The end of our meeting found us in the EHS office (with David) trying on lab coats like a gaggle of mad scientists. (See the photo of us smiling like some, too.) David also aided us in refining our fire suppression and protection techniques.

News

Meet Our Sponsors!

October 11, 2018June 5, 2020
by Dakota

Castle Point Rocketry is grateful to call a few key corporations our friends. Over the summer, we began reaching out for funding and mentorship. We would like to take a minute to personally thank our committed sponsors!

A&P Technology is supporting us through composites engineering. Among other applications, they work with giants such as GE to create light-weight, high-tensile, flight-appropriate materials. They’ve agreed to work with us on creating a well-developed fuselage!

The Aerojet Rocketdyne Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Aerojet Rocketdyne, a renowned rocket, missile, and probe designer. They have provided valuable feedback and are helping us achieve our fundraising goal!

We need some odd-ball valves, and Gosco Valves has the know-how! We’re grateful for their support and their history of good rapport with aeronautics research agencies!

L3 Technologies specializes in communications and reconnaissance systems. They’ve pledge a generous gift to develop our telemetry and avionics systems. Thanks to them, we’re on track to know how high our rocket goes!

Micro is a leader in metal injection molding and specialized, precision tubing fabrication. Not only are they supporting us financially, but they are assisting us with fabrication.

Northrop Grumman is well-known for their aerospace applications, including the Apollo Lunar Module. Upper-level management has reached out to us, and we are encouraged by their support!

Triton Space Technologies specializes in high-performance valves and aerospace propulsion. They are aiding us in creating custom cryogenic valves for our rocket, and we couldn’t be more grateful!

Don’t forget to check the Sponsors portion of our website for regular updates on all of our sponsors. Who knows… maybe with the launch of our crowdfunding campaign on Monday 15 October, we’ll see your name there, too!