Very New Scratch High Power Build With Arduino Mega

Hello everyone.
This year, as a high school student from Turkey, I participated in a rocketry contest where the organizators give financial aid up to 1000$. We decided to go with a PVC pipe as the main structural component (btw no kits allowed, only builds). This contest was mainly for university students and that alone really put a lot of pressure on me. Now they are requiring us to sign a contract for the financial aid, under the term we will pay back our money if we decide to quit for any reason. What do you guys think? Will I be able to pull this off? It will be my first ever rocket. I am good at physics and I know how to use OpenRocket. Should I sign this paper?

Edit: It's not a problem if I fail at the field and disqualify. The rocket has a 4kg payload, 7kg in total. It accerelates up to 9.7 G's. Double ejection parachute system with a drogue. Arduino Mega and XBee as main electronics/avionics. I will do weight tests to simulate extra G's beforehand.

If they are only concerned about walking away, only you can answer how committed you are.

If there's a failure penalty, I would very much advise anyone against such a deal.

Finally, please remember that we don't discuss experimental / research propellant formulas on the open forum; unmodified commercial motors only.

Welcome aboard!

Yes, we will be using a K motor for our rocket. And there isn't a penalty if we go to the contest field and fail to do something. Only if we walk away before that day and not finish our project. Thanks!

Commercial motor or make your own?

Commercial

If I were in your situation, I would immediately attempt to fly and recover some low-and-mid-power together with anyone else who might be on your team. If you find any of it challenging or counterintuitive, I'd say don't sign up this year.

What you propose is not impossible, but I would never in any context recommend a K flight for one's first. You're talking about several kilos traveling at hundreds of kph, so it's very important not to make mistakes that would endanger others.

Oh, and I just realized the proposal is also for DIY flight electronics. I would really recommend flying a commercial altimeter as backup when developing a new system.

They are requesting a lot of stuff in a very brief amount of time. Very little time I got until the certain deadlines. They are requesting "detailed CAD drawings" and I can't even draw on any CAD software yet; maybe my accurate openrocket drawing is enough. They require the payload to be min 4kg and the rocket is 75mm in diameter, its impossible to find any weights. I think I won't do it but I will ask these questions to officials and to my team members tomorrow. Thanks for replying.

Tripoli added a Prefecture in Istanbul within the last year. Their contact information should be listed on the www.tripoli.org site under Prefectures. They may be able to help.

Said Emirmustafaoglu said:

They are requesting a lot of stuff in a very brief amount of time. Very little time I got until the certain deadlines. They are requesting "detailed CAD drawings" and I can't even draw on any CAD software yet; maybe my accurate openrocket drawing is enough. They require the payload to be min 4kg and the rocket is 75mm in diameter, its impossible to find any weights. I think I won't do it but I will ask these questions to officials and to my team members tomorrow. Thanks for replying.

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If the organizers would say that you "quit" if you didn't produce detailed CAD drawings by the deadline, I wouldn't sign the paperwork. "Detailed CAD drawings" is a pretty high bar, and could take a lot of time to make them, depending on how detailed they want the drawings to be. If that's just a waypoint and wouldn't mean you defaulted, then it's up to your level of commitment. You should plan for time to test and make design changes along the way as you figure out how to keep a K motor mount in a PVC pipe.

Said Emirmustafaoglu said:

They are requesting a lot of stuff in a very brief amount of time. Very little time I got until the certain deadlines. They are requesting "detailed CAD drawings" and I can't even draw on any CAD software yet; maybe my accurate openrocket drawing is enough. They require the payload to be min 4kg and the rocket is 75mm in diameter, its impossible to find any weights. I think I won't do it but I will ask these questions to officials and to my team members tomorrow. Thanks for replying.

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Welcome to the forum and good luck with the project. ITU ROTEK (Rocket Technologies) team from Istanbul Technical University were at International Rocketry Week in Scotland last year. They were flying on a J motor rather than K, but their rocket was of a similar complexity to the one you're talking about, and they too were on a steep learning curve.. It might be worth contacting them for a chat (..?)

To me that sounds crazy as a first rocket build. I will cheer you on if you try it, but it sure seems to me like you need some experience before tackling something like, particularly under time pressure.

Personally I wouldn't do it, not with just the info you have given so far. Especially if I am required to turn in CAD drawings and I can't draw in CAD. Openrocket will go a long way to helping sim the altitude and other flight data.
But what is the reward? If a career opportunity is involved,or a grant..something along those lines, I might would consider it.
If all you pay back is the 1000 dollars if you quit, that might not be too bad, as long as there are no other penalties. I would need more info for sure before I signed any contract.