Vulcan-II Student Built Liquid-Fueled Rocket

The Objective

To fully design, simulate, source, build, test, and launch a liquid-fueled rocket for the on-campus student engineering organization SEDS (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space) at UC San Diego.

Personal Achievements

Part of a 5-engineer team tasked with safely recovering the rocket.
Tasks include researching, designing, CADing, sourcing, manufacturing, and testing the parts for the recovery bay of the rocket.
Did hand and computer calculations/simulations in MATLAB and Mathematica including safe shock force, parachute size, pressure/amount of CO2 to blow nosecone off, and max drift from launch site.
CAD of electronics mounting solutions for actual rocket and avionics test rocket and installed these systems during tests in the Mojave Desert.
Tested the CO2 nosecone ejection system in various parking lots around UCSD to validify computations.
Helped the structures team with carbon fiber layups and manufacturing for the outermost skin of the rocket in order to meet team deadlines.

The Outcome - So Far

The rocket is fully assembled and was planned to launch the week before spring finals. The team transported the rocket to the Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) test site in the middle of the Mojave Desert, but unfortunately due to problems putting together the fin and carbon fiber sheathing mounting mechanisms while out in the field, our team missed our airspace clearance window and was unable to launch before summer. We plan to attempt another launch during Fall 2019 after recruiting season.