A team of MSOE students placed 10th overall in the Midwest High Power Rocketry Competition and received the additional honor of “Coolest Looking Design.”

The Raider Rocketeers was one of three teams chosen by the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium to participate in the national competition. Students were challenged to design and construct an “adaptable” single stage, dual deploy high-power rocket system that will fly to the same highest possible altitude on two distinctly different motors. The rocket had to be recovered safely and in flyable condition.

In addition to building the rocket, students were tasked with predicting the rocket’s flight performance with each selected motor and constructing a non-commercial on-board data collection package for the rocket that would directly measure velocity versus time, for comparison with data collected by a commercial rocketry altimeter, as well as sense and log airframe separation and parachute extraction from the airframe for both drogue and main parachute deployments, and also collect up and down video from outside the airframe to certify expected (i.e. primary, not backup) drogue and main parachute full deployment.

“The overall objective of the competition is to promote engineering design skill development for aerospace applications that encompasses STEM areas,” said Dr. Anand Vyas, team advisor and adjunct assistant professor of mechanical engineering. “The competition objectives tacitly embed research as part of exploring design options and learning from published papers, articles, and codes related to high power rocketry.”
IMG_6955The competition typically has a final launch date during the second weekend of May. This year, due to inclement weather, the launch was rescheduled. MSOE’s Raider Rocketeers launched on July 8.

“We are grateful to Frank Nobile from Tripoli Rocketry Association for serving as safety advisor to the Raider Rocketeers and facilitating the rescheduled launch on July 8,” Vyas said. “Without his help, rescheduled launch would not have been possible.”

MSOE has been participating in the Midwest High Power Rocketry Competition since 2012-13. The competition was run by the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium (MnSGC) but open to college/university student teams from across the nation, during the 2016-2017 academic year.