Session
2025 Poster
Location
Brigham Young University Engineering Building, Provo, UT
Start Date
5-5-2025 9:55 AM
Description
As rocketry continues to emphasize reusability and cost-effectiveness, the question arises: how can these goals be achieved in the context of sounding rockets? One promising method is the use of air brakes. These systems can serve multiple purposes, such as assisting in stage separation or guiding a rocket safely back to the ground. Much of the recent air brake testing has taken place at events like the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC), often to meet specific altitude targets. But this paper aims to use air brakes to increase the rockets recoverability and reusability by employing air brake gird fins to slow down and guide the rocket close to the launch site. This will be tested by using Computational fluid dynamics and test flights to gather data back that can be improved on. With the aim of keeping all costs under 1000 dollars with a 6-month timeline for project completion.
Increasing Rocket Reusability via Guided Recovery Systems
Brigham Young University Engineering Building, Provo, UT
As rocketry continues to emphasize reusability and cost-effectiveness, the question arises: how can these goals be achieved in the context of sounding rockets? One promising method is the use of air brakes. These systems can serve multiple purposes, such as assisting in stage separation or guiding a rocket safely back to the ground. Much of the recent air brake testing has taken place at events like the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC), often to meet specific altitude targets. But this paper aims to use air brakes to increase the rockets recoverability and reusability by employing air brake gird fins to slow down and guide the rocket close to the launch site. This will be tested by using Computational fluid dynamics and test flights to gather data back that can be improved on. With the aim of keeping all costs under 1000 dollars with a 6-month timeline for project completion.