Vehicle Team members

Team Lead: Stephen Mann

General Members: Casey Collins, Kaden Kotivis, Erik DeMeyere, Shiarette Contreras Rivera

Team Description

The vehicle team is in charge of designing, building, and testing both the full scale and subscale Rocket. They ensure the rocket complies with all nasa requirements and that it can be launched and recovered safely and successfully. This year the team decided to 3D print the entire Rocket. This has never been done before at the NASA Student Launch competition. 3D printing the rocket has many advantages such as reduced manufacturing time, unique designs, and the ability to rapidly iterate.

Deliverables

Deliverables this semester include a fully reusable competition Rocket as well as the FRR report, FRR addendum, and PLAR.

Goals

The goal of the rocket is to reach 4500 ft and be recovered successfully a total of 3 times. Our team’s goal is to build the rocket to all NASA Handbook requirements and successfully launch the rocket 3 times throughout the semester. The team wants to build the rocket to follow the Open Rocket simulations as close as possible and get as close as possible to the team’s target altitude.

Progress 2023 Spring semester

In the 2023 spring semester, the vehicle team built the entire rocket that would be flown in competition. This included finishing the CAD of the rocket and 3D printing all of the rocket parts on a Modix 3D printer. The team also built the rocket’s GPS, conducted shear and tension testing on PETG material, painted the rocket and added Iowa State stickers for competition, and completed two flights of the full-scale vehicle prior to competition. 

Vehicle Team Pictures