Hi from Texas

[Landon_Jace]

Hey yall my name is Jace and I'm a senior in High School. My high school is a part of the Systems Go program (I think my school is where it was started). Last year our rockets goal was to achieve Mach 1 under 13,000 ft. which didn't go to well unfortunately and right now my senior class is working on a Goddard level rocket. the goal of the rocket is to reach 50,000 ft. with a scientific payload using a hybrid motor with a budget of $10,000. I am the lead of the avionics/telemetry group and am a member of the nozzle group. The entire rocket must be built using only student designs and was hoping to get some advice for the rocket. I want to pursue aerospace engineering in college or at least continue rocketry as a hobby after high school. I'm looking forward to this year and am especially looking forward to our launch at white sands.

 

[Hobie1dog]

to the forum. sounds like you already have a lot more experience than some of old farts. Post up pictures of what you are involved with.

 

[Cl(VII)]

welcome

 

[yvanthesaxophonist]

Welcome to the forum! If you want to pursue rocketry into college, I recommend Texas A&M. We've got a hybrid rocket team doing cool stuff right now. I never got to do it, but I've heard great things about Systems go from members of the team, it's a very cool program. Good luck!

 

[Huxter]

Welcome! Sounds like fun classes! Aerospace engineering sounds like a great career too. Good luck!

 

[OzHybrid]

Getting a rocket to 50,000 ft would be challenging for someone with s lot of experience. Especially with a hybrid.

Who is assisting you? What certification do they have? Have they launched a hybrid before? To what altitude?
You would require at a minimum, a full M hybrid with minimum diameter rocket. 64 mm. I've done the hamster dance on this one... Go bigger dia and you need a bigger motor and bigger frame so you need a bigger motor ,frame etc.... Next size to 50k would be about an O motor at 6" dia. So your costs go up. Including the nitrous valve size you need to fill it. And all the cylinders and other ground support. You could easily spend half your budget on that alone before you start making a large rocket.
You would want to start smaller and work up to your 50k shot. Again that increases your budget requirements.
And just to add to all that, your center of gravity for the rocket will go through some large changes in a hybrid.

 

[OzHybrid]

As this was Sept and I can see you've been moving along, how's your budget looking?