The moment of take-off for a rocket causes your heart to pound. Everything feels still and then all at once, the intense thrust from the motor causes the ground to shutter and grabs the attention of everyone watching. Those few moments are built up from months and years of hard work from a great design team. Working to design a liquid rocket propulsion system is the focus of the students in the STELLAR project through Make to Innovate (M2I).
STELLAR is one of the M2I projects that began in the Fall of 2021. The idea to start a rocket project focused solely on working toward a liquid propulsion system came from a student who was previously on M2I teams such as CySAT, MAVRIC, and even StuOrg group Cyclone Rocketry, Preston Swager. Swager always had a love for Aerospace Engineering, especially working in the areas pertinent to rocket propulsion. After building knowledge and skills from these previous projects, he found wanted to help other students learn skills around liquid propulsion for rockets.
Since the start of this project, the team has been in the design phase: focusing on the flow rates, thrust, and the optimization of the nozzle structure in general. The name of the first student developed liquid rocket engine for STELLAR is Typhoon. Through an inert fluid system and engine design, students will be given hands–on experience with liquid propulsion in a non-combustible environment. The first iteration of Typhoon will be designed and developed by the end of Spring 2022, which is an ambitious deadline, but more iterations will be developed in the coming years.
This project has added on to Swager’s love for liquid propulsion and helped pave a way to his career path. Swager would like to expand the work of STELLAR to be in collaboration with other M2I projects: CyLaunch and RAFF. He also has hopes of expanding STELLAR outside of M2I through gaining more industrial connections and wants to work directly with companies like other M2I projects.
Swager believes this can also help other students. Projects, like STELLAR, are great resume builders and immensely prepare students for internships or careers. Companies love to see the hands-on experience and skills built from student-run projects. “It is very difficult to find an internship as an Aerospace Engineer,” Swager stated, “by applying yourself as a student to these available resources, potential opportunities will open themselves and become a reality.”
Students can look into STELLAR now as a potential project to work on if they are interested. The hopes of having the preliminary design by next Spring is just the beginning and there will be lots of research/work after that. This is extending to the long-term goals of STELLAR and is allowing for years of collaboration with students and potential companies.
STELLAR is something new and exciting that is hoping to captivate the attention of both current and new students. This project provides unique opportunities and can teach students about other skills that classes cannot give by just taking exams. STELLAR is about more than just rockets. “Every year we are looking to make history,” Swager said.