On June 23rd, the Clemson Rocket Engineering Team competed in the Spaceport America Cup (10k COTS Division) in New Mexico.
This year was the best launch for the team ever:
- The team was able to launch on the first day of the competition, 6th launch of the day, in the third salvo.
- The team fully recovered the rocket, with only minor damage (classified as cosmetic damage). This was the first time the team had carbon fiber, tip-to-tip layup fins, and withstood the launch; the rocket’s fins had no flutter. We also had fiberglass composite body tubes for the first time in the team’s history.
- We only had a 2.7% error from our predicted altitude (we predicted 10,383 feet and only overshot to 10,665 feet; an average collected from our altimeters sensors). This error came from a difference in actual temperature at the time we launched (when fixing the simulation for the correct temperature, we would have predicted an apogee of 10,588 feet, a 0.0048% error).
The team members included Alex Pratt, Anthony Dempsey, Beau Bischoff, Daniel Carlson, and Deon Wallace.
Photos of the event:
