Ambition on an October Skies level

[xmaslightguy]

I am a freshman at university and I have ambitions to be an aerospace engineer. Sadly the school I chose only has mechanical engineering so I've settled for a mathematics degree. However, this doesn't diminish my desire to build rockets and one day go to space, so I decided I would start early. My roommate is a chemistry major and my suit mate is a mechanical engineer major, so basically we have access to materials, the means to produce a design, and more likely than not a faculty member on the campus who will help us find a spot to launch the rockets. The only problem is we are all freshmen and don't have enough knowledge yet to actually achieve this. So we're all going to teach ourselves what we need to know to get this done, and this is where I turn to the forum community.

What do we need to learn so that we can design and launch rockets capable of some extended flight? Long term goal would be to reach space, but we are definitely aware we will start with only a couple hundred feet. Once again, we all know next to nothing so any reference material or concepts we should know about would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for helping this dream come true!

[Budgie]

Start with model rocketry, at least to familiarize yourselves with the procedure, then play with HPR, high powered rocketry on motors H and above. You can find yourself a local NAR or TRA club and find someone there to certify you as level 1, which will teach you a lot about rocketry. From there you can start playing more, though reaching space is an incredibly difficult challenge for 3-4 people

[Armchair Rocket Scientist]

I am a freshman at university and I have ambitions to be an aerospace engineer. Sadly the school I chose only has mechanical engineering so I've settled for a mathematics degree. However, this doesn't diminish my desire to build rockets and one day go to space, so I decided I would start early. My roommate is a chemistry major and my suit mate is a mechanical engineer major, so basically we have access to materials, the means to produce a design, and more likely than not a faculty member on the campus who will help us find a spot to launch the rockets. The only problem is we are all freshmen and don't have enough knowledge yet to actually achieve this. So we're all going to teach ourselves what we need to know to get this done, and this is where I turn to the forum community.

What do we need to learn so that we can design and launch rockets capable of some extended flight? Long term goal would be to reach space, but we are definitely aware we will start with only a couple hundred feet. Once again, we all know next to nothing so any reference material or concepts we should know about would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for helping this dream come true!

I absolutely concur with Budgie's post, and I have a couple other things to add.

You may want to discuss major choice with academic or career advisers, especially if you're considering a post-graduate degree in aerospace engineering. The closest major to Aerospace is probably Mechanical Engineering, and there are a lot of mechanical engineers in the aerospace field. Do this now, while you're still a freshman and it's relatively easy to change majors.

Also, go to a dedicated model and high-power rocketry forum like this one: http://www.rocketryforum.com/

The KSP forums have a lot of rocketeers, but for shear number of knowledgeable members we can't beat a rocketry-specific community. If currently you know next to nothing it may be best not to mention the goal of reaching space, though. They get a LOT of "I've never built or flown anything before, now how exactly do I go to space?" type posts. People will take you a lot more seriously if you mention a smaller goal like Level 1 certification.

As far as access to materials goes, keep in mind that while up to a point rockets can be built cheaply with components like scrap mailing tubes and plywood, some components like motor cases, propellant reloads, and electronics, are very expensive. At certification level 3, costs will be several hundred dollars per flight, plus probably over a thousand for the rocket. An actual space shot will most likely have a budget well into the tens of thousands of dollars. It would be hard to get a college to pay for that - which is irrelevant because you'll almost certainly be out of college by the time you're ready for a project that size. It might be a good idea to consider various means of funding.

[-Velocity-]

Well, you'll probably want an electrical engineer too. I did a lot of model rocketry when I was a kid but never progressed beyond G rocket motors. Other hobbies, the lack of launch sites, the high cost of motors (each launch of a G rocket costing like $15 IIRC), etc. all got in the way.

Anyway, with an electrical engineer you can integrate control systems and micro controllers into your rocket. As a simple example, there are a number of MEMS gyroscopes and MEMS IMUs (inertial measurement units) on the market right now. You can buy them for like $5 each. They come in surface mount packages, typically 4mm X 4mm X 1mm or smaller. So you could integrate them into a rocket and steer it to keep it vertical, or follow some profile. A more advanced version could use a full MEMS INS that flies the rocket back to the launch point. You could even include GPS guidance.

(Yes, I can think of a few issues- rocket motor vibrational/acoustic noise could excite the MEMS gyro at its mechanical resonance frequency and throw off its measurements; you might have to mount the electronics in sound absorbing material. Also, you would probably want to use a slow-burning rocket motor (they do make them for rocket-powered remote control model gliders) that didn't exert too many Gs on the MEMS components, otherwise they might bottom out. Also f you design the control system incorrectly for the rocket, it could also go dangerously out of control; you might want a radio-commanded abort system.)

Anyway, once I finish my degree and get a house, I'm looking forward to restarting rocketry myself; I'll need a nice garage or shed for a workshop and some oscilloscopes, power supplies, signal generators, etc. for the electronics. I'll have to be a little careful though; the same kind of stuff that could guide a model rocket could be used for nefarious purposes; if you published or sold any of your designs you could get the Feds breathing down your neck or worse yet, find yourself partly responsible for the deaths of innocents. I'm not joking; sometimes you have to be careful about what you make and publish, even if your intentions are clearly and demonstrably noble or harmless. Supposedly a professor here had one of his student group's senior design project (a rail gun) taken away by Homeland security.

ANYWAY, I mention all of this because if you want a reasonably advanced and novel model rocketry effort, at least in terms of building high altitude instrumented rockets you'll need electronics, at the very least for staging and altitude measurements. Some of these electronics are already available, but if you really want to get serious, you'll need to design your own. Custom electronics wouldn't be necessary for your first rockets, but they would become increasingly useful as your designs advanced.

Edited September 23, 2014 by |Velocity|

[xmaslightguy]

Thank you all of you for your advice so far! I'm going to try and answer each in turn:

@Budgie

I have a habit of setting myself nearly impossible goals so I can always be moving forward, and that is what the space mention was. I realize if I ever send anything into space it will likely be because I'm working with NASA or some private aerospace company. Also thank you for the advice about model rocketry.

@Armchair Rocket Scientist

I'm checking out the forum you suggested as I type, and I already can see what you mean by the giant knowledge base that forum represents. With regards to my degree, my only goal is to go into space and help bring more people there. Aerospace engineering is the most direct path to that goal in my opinion, but I've really been enjoying math and mathematicians are also important in space (one of the degrees you can have to be a mission specialist for NASA is a mathematics major). Finally, the suit mate has access to the aluminum and other structural materials for the body of the rocket, but I would need to acquire the chemicals and engine parts in addition. However, I don't just want to launch something into space because it would be cool. I really want to learn and practice all parts of the rocket construction from the ground up, so if I can learn how to manufacture a basic rocket engine and develop a process to synthesis rocket fuel, I would gladly chose that over just buying the parts.

@Velocity

The electrical components is definitely a part I haven't focused on. I know some students studying for a Computer Science degree, but I don't think my university has an electrical engineering degree. Regardless, what you described with the gyroscopes is thought provoking and helpful, and I will definitely look into a remote-abort system if I can construct a rocket.

[-Velocity-]

Thank you all of you for your advice so far! I'm going to try and answer each in turn:

@Budgie

I have a habit of setting myself nearly impossible goals so I can always be moving forward, and that is what the space mention was. I realize if I ever send anything into space it will likely be because I'm working with NASA or some private aerospace company. Also thank you for the advice about model rocketry.

@Armchair Rocket Scientist

I'm checking out the forum you suggested as I type, and I already can see what you mean by the giant knowledge base that forum represents. With regards to my degree, my only goal is to go into space and help bring more people there. Aerospace engineering is the most direct path to that goal in my opinion, but I've really been enjoying math and mathematicians are also important in space (one of the degrees you can have to be a mission specialist for NASA is a mathematics major). Finally, the suit mate has access to the aluminum and other structural materials for the body of the rocket, but I would need to acquire the chemicals and engine parts in addition. However, I don't just want to launch something into space because it would be cool. I really want to learn and practice all parts of the rocket construction from the ground up, so if I can learn how to manufacture a basic rocket engine and develop a process to synthesis rocket fuel, I would gladly chose that over just buying the parts.

@Velocity

The electrical components is definitely a part I haven't focused on. I know some students studying for a Computer Science degree, but I don't think my university has an electrical engineering degree. Regardless, what you described with the gyroscopes is thought provoking and helpful, and I will definitely look into a remote-abort system if I can construct a rocket.

If you can construct a rocket? That is not difficult at all. Estes is the beginner-level choice; Aerotech is a good intermediate choice:

http://www.aerotech-rocketry.com/default.aspx

http://www.aerotechstore.com/

I started with my own Estes designs when I was 10 and moved onto Aerotech when I was 13, so it's not hard at all. Just follow the directions

Now, these rockets won't fly very high, fast, or far (only a few hundred MPH in velocity to altitudes of a few thousand feet) because the engine mass is only a small fraction of the rocket's weight. But without any guidance or tracking system, if you want to recover your rocket, you don't have any choice but to handicap it like that. This is one of my main motivations for developing a guidance system- I want to launch rockets that go very high, very fast, and very far. I want the rockets to fly so high that the electronics must be heated