rocketry Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Castle Point Rocketry

Snow Day!

February 12, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

When most Stevens students get an e-mail saying the day’s classes have been cancelled, they celebrate because it gives them a free day to relax, play Super Smash Bros., or whip up a nice long meal.

Castle Point Rocketry celebrated because it gave us a full day to meet.

So here we all are, gathered together in Dakota’s apartment, calculating blast radius, zeroing in on a test site, and finalizing a plumbing and instrumentation diagram. (Hopefully, the former won’t ever be needed — and the latter is on its last iteration.)

Stay tuned for more exciting news. Until then, we’re holed up hiding from the cold!

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Untitled

January 25, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

Sometimes you just gotta step back from the rocket and just…

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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

A Spooky Update

October 31, 2018June 5, 2020
by Will

Between our new box, our crowdfunding campaign (which has been extended by a week – go check it out), ordering test stand and avionics parts, and safety meetings, we’ve got a lot going on; it’s all very exciting!

We’ve already raised over $20,000 from our crowdfunding campaign – a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to this amazing milestone. Every dollar donated brings us one step closer to reaching the Karman Line!

Very soon, we will begin construction of the test stand (partially shown in the CAD above), and preliminary testing on our electronics, so stay tuned for future updates here and on our social media!