Subsystems

The Subsystems subteam’s responsibilities include the design, CAD, and manufacturing of the Active Drag System (ADS), Recovery Bay, and Payload structures and mechanisms.

The ADS is a dynamic air braking system that helps the rocket more accurately stop at our target apogee of 10,000ft. This project’s goal this year is to continue to improve last year’s design by making the design lighter, capable of producing more drag, and improving the manufacturing process of the carbon fiber flaps. Also, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) will need to be conducted to find the coefficient of drag values that are used in the control algorithm.

The Recovery Bay houses all the flight electronics that control the recovery system as well as an external camera. This project also includes the management of the parachutes and black powder charges that need to be tested before each launch. This project’s goal this year is to continue improving the electronics housing, design a camera shroud, and improve the efficiency of the recovery system as a whole.

The Payload structure houses the electronics of the payload project and needs to be designed to fit a specific form factor and weight. This project’s goal this year is to redesign the structure to accommodate the new payload electronics project.

On this subteam, the fall semester is typically spent designing and CADing these three crucial subsystems. The spring semester is focused on manufacturing the subsystems and then ground and flight testing each system.