Tyler Stowell

Work / Engineering Teams

BYU Rocketry: Target-Altitude Rocket

As a freshman in BYU's rocket club, I built a rocket designed to fly to a specific target altitude.

When
2022
Status
Completed
Role
Team member
With
BYU Rocketry
  • OpenRocket
  • Flight simulation
  • Rocketry
Aerial drone view of a rocket launching from a desert range, trailing a white smoke plume, with launch rails, parked cars and spectators nearby
Competition day, from a drone above the launch range. The rocket in flight belongs to another team. Video still: BYU Rocketry Club.

Overview

My freshman year of college, I was interested in becoming involved with some of the different engineering clubs on campus. One of the clubs that I investigated and eventually joined was BYU’s rocket club. In their new student competition, teams of two had to build a rocket that could fly to 1,700 ft. We were scored on how well we could hit that target (measured by a sensor embedded in the rocket) by using only design and simulation techniques (so no active control).

Design

I designed the rocket in OpenRocket, an open-source flight simulator that predicts a rocket’s trajectory. This was a great opportunity to try something new and learn a little bit about the aerodynamics of flight. Below is the finished design:

Rocket design sheet: a side profile of the rocket, its mass, stability, center of gravity and center of pressure, and a simulated flight on a G74W-9 motor reaching 1697 ft The design and simulated flight. With the motor installed the rocket weighs 365 g, and its center of pressure sits 1.28 calibers behind its center of gravity, so it flies stably. On a G74W-9 motor, the simulation predicts an apogee of 1697 ft, reached 8.5 s after launch, and a peak speed of 188 m/s.

The finished rocket, tall and slender with a blue body, black nose cone and three blue fins, standing upright in front of a garage door
My finished rocket: a black nose cone, a blue airframe and three fins at the base.

At the competition, we were within 50 ft of the target altitude, which was a success for us. We managed to get third place out of around 40 teams, so we barely managed to place and received a small trophy for our efforts. Overall, this project didn’t really fit into my trajectory as an engineer, but I believe it shows that I’m very capable of learning new things and branching out. Whatever challenge is placed in front of me, I will work to overcome it!