CapHaddock
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Hi all,
A club at my school is designing a self guided payload system where after being ejected from the rocket at about 4,000ft and 30 MPH, the payload will land itself in a designated landing zone (Whether or not this is allowed by the FAA is questionable but we are doing this to participate in a potential competition). We are having a few issues on the mechanics behind this payload, specifically between two designs.
The first design is basically a missile where there will be two planar fins that are initially stowed within the body. After ejecting from the rocket (streamers will be connected to the end of the rocket, slowing us down just a little bit when freefalling), the fins will rotate away from the interior of the body so that they will be parallel to the air stream. Here, they will be able to provide roll and some pitch. After reaching a certain altitude, a main parachute will deploy slowing us down to an acceptable speed.
Our second design is basically four sticks with propellers at the end of the sticks, 90 degrees away from each other that are initially stowed inside the body. Once it ejects from the rocket, all four sticks will rotate away from the interior of the rocket (again, will have streamers) and the propellers will start spinning, with the four sticks only able to move on one axis. After reaching a certain altitude, a main parachute will deploy slowing us down to an acceptable speed.
Half of us want the first design (since less moving parts reduces complexity, and we are familiar with flight dynamics of planar fins) and the other half want the second design.
Which design would be ideal for what we want to achieve?
A club at my school is designing a self guided payload system where after being ejected from the rocket at about 4,000ft and 30 MPH, the payload will land itself in a designated landing zone (Whether or not this is allowed by the FAA is questionable but we are doing this to participate in a potential competition). We are having a few issues on the mechanics behind this payload, specifically between two designs.
The first design is basically a missile where there will be two planar fins that are initially stowed within the body. After ejecting from the rocket (streamers will be connected to the end of the rocket, slowing us down just a little bit when freefalling), the fins will rotate away from the interior of the body so that they will be parallel to the air stream. Here, they will be able to provide roll and some pitch. After reaching a certain altitude, a main parachute will deploy slowing us down to an acceptable speed.
Our second design is basically four sticks with propellers at the end of the sticks, 90 degrees away from each other that are initially stowed inside the body. Once it ejects from the rocket, all four sticks will rotate away from the interior of the rocket (again, will have streamers) and the propellers will start spinning, with the four sticks only able to move on one axis. After reaching a certain altitude, a main parachute will deploy slowing us down to an acceptable speed.
Half of us want the first design (since less moving parts reduces complexity, and we are familiar with flight dynamics of planar fins) and the other half want the second design.
Which design would be ideal for what we want to achieve?
