Nate, Author at Castle Point Rocketry

News

Full Stack

July 11, 2019June 5, 2020
by Nate

“Full stack” is our tech jargon for a complete system. We refer to the entire, fully-assembled rocket as the full stack. All subsystems, including structural, propulsion, avionics, and recovery, are finally together. That means every component required to turn the rocket on is integrated, meticulously cleaned, carefully installed according to the design specifications, and painstakingly checked to make sure it functions in the whole system.

Adding a few final touches to the piping and wiring.

You’ve seen quite a few photos of our full stack flooding our social media over the last few days.* We’ve finally been able to get some good angles of it now that it is out of the clean room. (All of the components required to be clean have been capped.) Additionally, we have received our final engine, and our valves have been plumbed in. With the addition of these last pieces, our rocket has bones, some muscle, and a fully-developed digestive system!

Its taken an incredible amount of effort (and a remarkable number of late nights), but the team now has the full stack at our testing site in southern New Jersey. We are confident the rocket (as pictured below) will perform optimally when tested!

Our rocket, on its dolly, in our Hoboken lab space.

*Note: What we refer to as the “full stack” for testing is different than the “full stack” we will use for launch. In order to launch, we will first need to add on three more major components. (1) The carbon fiber “skin” of the rocket. (2) The machined titanium fins for the rocket’s “feet.” (3) The manufactured nose cone at the “head” of the rocket.

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Dolly Upgrade!

June 25, 2019June 5, 2020
by Nate

Initially, we built a dolly out of 80/20 aluminum to wheel about the rocket. This dolly proved to be too short as our rocket got longer. So, we decided on an upgrade — wood! This new dolly is double the length of the previous.

Abe fills the new dolly’s tires with more air so it works extra-well.

Over time, our rocket has only gotten longer. (At least, after it’s initial shortening when we moved from a two-stage system to a one-stage system.) Our rocket is around 25 feet long. This dolly will be used to transport it around the test and launch sites.

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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.

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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.

News

Ground Support to Major Tom

March 25, 2019June 5, 2020
by Nate

The centerpiece of our ground support equipment arrived today via ground freight. 9 meters of aluminum triangle truss from the Prolyte Group.

The truss will be used as the primary support for our rocket’s launch rail. Once completed, the launch stand will measure just over 10 meters tall. The rocket will slide on studs that slot into the launch rail, which will in turn be mounted to this truss.

Our full truss section, traffic cone for scale

As more and more major components of our project arrive on campus, the excitement grows. Things are becoming very tangible — in only a short time, we’ll have a fully-assembled rocket to blog about!

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New Year, New Injector II

February 8, 2019June 5, 2020
by Nate

After a phone call with our printing partner SLM, we have made a few final tweaks for printability to our nozzle and injector. Our engine is now fully self-supporting. This is a huge step forward as we continue to run simulations and refine the design’s performance. Very soon, we will be sending finalized part files out to be printed in Inconel.

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Carbon Fiber (almost) Composite

February 1, 2019June 5, 2020
by Nate

One of the really exciting features of our launch vehicle is the carbon fiber composite fuselage. Woven or braided carbon composites have structural properties similar or better than steel, at a fraction of the weight. Our team has partnered with A&P Technology to source the braided tubing for our composite. This stuff is cool!

The carbon braid we’ve selected from A&P has a braid angle designed to take much of the force the rocket will experience in flight. This allows us to make the whole rocket ultra light. In the coming days the raw carbon braid will be shipped to our manufacturing partner and infused with a resin to make a super strong and light composite. Stay tuned for more!

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High-temp Ceramic Coating Tests

January 30, 2019June 5, 2020
by Nate

The team recently completed the first round of testing with a new high-temperature resistant ceramic coating. This coating is intended to be used on the nose cone to lessen the effects of aerodynamic heating. A cooler nosecone is ideal, because it allows us to select a thinner and lighter material.

The team conducted a series of experiments to determine the optimal application technique and layering. The results of these experiments will be useful in determining what the next step is in testing this exciting material.