The College of Southern California’s pupil rocketeers have performed it once more.
The USC Rocket Propulsion Lab (USCRPL) — which in 2019 turned the primary pupil group ever to launch a rocket to house — despatched its Aftershock II automobile 470,400 toes (89.09 miles, or 143.38 kilometers) above Earth final month. That smashed the novice altitude file of 380,000 toes (71.97 miles, or 115.82 km), which was set in 2004 by the Civilian Area Exploration Group.
“This achievement represents a number of engineering firsts,” Ryan Kraemer, the chief engineer of USCRPL and an undergrad majoring in mechanical engineering, mentioned in a statement on Friday (Nov. 15). “Aftershock II is distinguished by essentially the most highly effective solid-propellant motor ever fired by college students and essentially the most highly effective composite case motor made by amateurs.”
USCRPL’s groundbreaking April 2019 liftoff, from New Mexico’s Spaceport America, concerned a rocket referred to as Traveler IV. (Traveler can be the identify of the horse ridden by USC’s Trojan mascot.) That automobile reached a most altitude of 339,800 toes (64.4 miles, or 103.6 km) — above the 62-mile-high (100 km) Kármán Line, which many individuals view because the boundary of house — and a prime pace of three,386 mph (5,449 kph).
Associated: USC college students’ rocket reaches house in record-setting launch
Aftershock II’s landmark launch occurred on Oct. 24 from the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The 13-foot-tall (4 m), 330-pound (150 kilograms) rocket flew larger and sooner than its predecessor, reaching a max pace of three,602 mph (5,797 kph).
“This end result establishes Aftershock II because the quickest and highest novice rocket of all time,” the group wrote in a white paper verifying the flight information, which was posted on Thursday (Nov. 14).
The coed group made this leap because of a brand new avionics unit and different vital upgrades.
“To exceed the usual we set for ourselves with Traveler IV, we needed to resolve many technical and operational challenges,” Kraemer mentioned.
“Thermal safety at hypersonic speeds is a significant problem on the business stage, and the protecting paint system that we developed carried out completely, enabling the rocket to return largely intact,” he added. “We additionally made an vital improve to the fins, changing the naked carbon fringe of earlier iterations with titanium main edges. The titanium not solely prevented fraying however truly turned blue from the extraordinary warmth throughout flight by way of anodization, which actually demonstrates the intense situations our rocket efficiently endured.”
Aftershock II additionally featured customized laptop methods and circuit boards, which the scholars designed and constructed from scratch, in accordance with the Nov. 15 assertion.
“That is an exceptionally bold challenge not just for a pupil group, however for any non-professional group of rocket engineers,” Dan Erwin, chair of the USC Division of Astronautical Engineering, mentioned within the assertion. “It’s a testomony to the excellence we search to develop in our rising astronautical engineers, who go on to realize prime roles within the house business and in authorities positions.”
