Stevens Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Castle Point Rocketry

News

techdrawer interview released!

April 20, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

You may remember that, a few weeks back, the YouTuber ‘techdrawer‘ paid us a visit. We spent the better part of an afternoon in front of the camera for an interview, followed by a quick tour of the lab. Over the past few weeks, all of the raw footage has been whittled down into a coherent interview.

On the morning of 19 April, techdrawer dropped the finished video!

The finished video — all 16 minutes of it!

Sergio, the face of techdrawer, did a great job of leading the team in an informative discussion about or project. Topics covered include our motivation, what we hope comes of the project, and brief explorations of the science behind it all.

We hope you learn a little something about our team over the course of the video. If you do, don’t forget to give it a like! With your help, two Stevens student groups (techdrawer and Castle Point Rocketry) will benefit!

Uncategorized

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.

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.