Word of the month: liftoff.  

TARC: After launching their rockets in March, our TARC team wrapped up their work for the year. Teams spent April cleaning up their toolkits and the engineering suite, as well as preparing tools and the suite for the 2022-2023 TARC team.

HPR (top & bottom):  Before heading out to the launch site in late April, our HPR team completed ejection charge testing for Phoenix's parachutes, parachute packing, and completed work on electronics. 

After months of work, our HPR team finally launched Phoenix from the Bayboro launch site on April 23. Due to unforeseen difficulties with the construction of the UAV, our UAV vehicle did not fly on Phoenix. However, Phoenix's flight was still a resounding success! Phoenix traveled at speeds of up to Mach 0.7 (537.088+ mph) and reached heights of approximately 5,000 feet. After reaching apogee, Phoenix successfully deployed its drogue and main parachutes before softly touching down a couple hundred yards from the launch site. The HPR team successfully retrieved Phoenix, the flight data, and -- unlike B.R.R.D.S -- camera footage! 

Below is the camera footage from Phoenix's flight:

Word of the month: construction.  

TARC (top-left): Members of TARC worked on finalizing the designs of their rockets, and began construction in anticipation of the launches in March. For those who participated in the TARC January Term course, their rockets were essentially completed. This time served as a trial and error period for students to make sure their rockets would fly successfully. 

HPR (bottom-left):  Construction for Phoenix finally begins. Phoenix is essentially a rocket that will deploy an unmanned UAV that will hover before ultimately landing on its own. This is not a common design, as only two collegiate rocketry teams have attempted something like this. While the main rocket is easy to construct, the UAV brings a new challenge for the HPR team. The primary challenge is the size. The UAV has to be large enough to actually sustain flight, yet small enough to fit in the rocket. With size, there is also a weight challenge with the UAV.

Below is a video of a test flight of a UAV prototype. 

The word of the month for both of our teams: launch. 

TARC (top-left): On November 6, a few team members were able to attend a local Cub Scouts "fun day" launch. This was a great opportunity to review launch day safety, as well as to get some experience actually launching rockets. We launched some Alphas (A-motor rockets), as well as some rockets that were constructed in years past. 

HPR (bottom-left): On November 8, we did some ejection charge testing for B.R.R.D.S. As of November 15, B.R.R.D.S was completely finished. Next was the big day, and members of our HPR team traveled to Bayboro for the launch of BRRDS on November 20. 

The launch went better than we could have expected. Our major goals with B.R.R.D.S were to fly higher than 10,000 feet, to go supersonic, to collect data from air-pressure sensors in the nose cone, and to record a 360-degree video. We met every goal except for our last one, as the cameras shut off upon takeoff. For the motor, we used an Aerotech L-1000W. B.R.R.D.S reached a height of 11,973 feet at apogee and a max velocity of Mach 1.3 (997 mph). After disappearing into the sky for three minutes and 56 seconds, B.R.R.D.S made its descent with both parachutes opened, landing closely to its launchpad. 

What made launch day even better was the fact that Ellie Murray, a captain from the class of 2020 that originally designed the rocket, was able to attend the launch. Hear her thoughts about the launch in the video to the left. 

Directly below, you can find videos of B.R.R.D.S taking off and landing.