Project: Daedalus Sub-Orbital Hybrid Rocket Program

[ProjectDaedalus]

My name is Michael P. Green and it is my proud honor to announce the Project: Daedalus Sub-Orbital Hybrid Rocket Program.

Project: Daedalus is an attempt to become the first ever independent student organization to design and launch a sub-orbital sounding rocket. The Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Chapter at the University of Central Florida (SEDS-UCF) has undertook this endeavor to increase knowledge about rocketry, increase advocacy about space exploration, and provide a feasible reusable launch vehicle for scientific projects and research in the long run. Our program consists of about 70 interdisciplinary engineering and science students.

This endeavor, while being quite ambitious, is a project we have each undertaken on our own time in order to gain valuable experience in the engineering field while conducting important scientific research. Our design consists of a hybrid (Nitrous Oxide/HDPE) single stage booster-dart launch vehicle with on-board video, telemetry and recovery systems. In the long run, we hope to design a low-cost, reusable launch vehicle to conduct sub-orbital scientific research for years to come. Current plans include the production of quarter-scale and full-scale hybrid motors, the launch of Daedalus III (full-scale vehicle launch to 250,000 feet in order to test electronics and communication systems) in late June/July 2009, and the launch of Daedalus IV (breaking the barrier of space) in December 2009. More about our project is available at https://www.projectdaedalus.com.

Project: Daedalus is also in an effort to educate students about engineering, aerospace, and rocketry through special advocacy and outreach programs with local elementary and high schools. Our outreach consists of three primary programs:

1. Sponsoring a contest to high school students to design a scientific research project to be launched as a payload for our next launch. Students will have to submit a proposal for a self-contained research project that will record data at an altitude of up to 250,000 feet.
2. Working through our sponsoring organization, The Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS-UCF), to work with local elementary schools and community groups to have science-related and rocket building workshops, increasing interest in science and technology.
3. Setting up presentations at local high schools in Florida to talk to their Junior/Senior students about our project and possible college/career opportunities within the STEM fields.

Our project however will not be able to be successful without the support or sponsorship from outside organizations. Project: Daedalus is endorsed by the Department of Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Central Florida, while also being sponsored by the Florida Space Grant Consortium and the Florida Space Institute. Any support towards our program would be greatly appreciated - either through financial support, the donation of materials/products, or the donation of time to help advise our efforts. A sponsorship package with more detailed information about the numerous benefits of sponsoring us is available on our website. A preliminary design proposal can also be provided if requested.

If you have any general questions about our project, our design, or sponsorship opportunities, feel free to contact me any time or visit our website at https://www.projectdaedalus.com. For frequent updates, please also follow us on twitter: https://twitter.com/ProjectDaedalus.

Thank you in advance for your consideration,

Michael P. Green
Project: Daedalus Executive Director
[email protected]

https://www.projectdaedalus.com

 

[ProjectDaedalus]

If anyone has any advice for our project, we welcome any that you may have to offer. Additionally, if you know of anyone who may be interested in helping us out or becoming a sponsor, please let us know.

Thanks.

 

[mjennings]

Being at UCF you have good access to a number of both NAR and TRA clubs. I fly with SRA and the other Central Florida groups each have at least someone here on TRF. All would be good contacts / proving grounds for your project. Florida Tech and Embry Riddle both have flown school launches at SRA. Good luck.

ROCK https://www.r-o-c-k.org/
NEFAR https://www.nefar.net/
SRA www.spaceportrocketry.org
Tampa https://www.ttra.ws

 

[ProjectDaedalus]

Being at UCF you have good access to a number of both NAR and TRA clubs. I fly with SRA and the other Central Florida groups each have at least someone here on TRF. All would be good contacts / proving grounds for your project. Florida Tech and Embry Riddle both have flown school launches at SRA. Good luck.

Thanks for the info. We launch smaller scale rockets (G, H, I normally), including some hybrids, all the time at the NEFAR launches the 2nd weekend of each month up in Bunnell. We have been planning for awhile to try to head out to one of the SRA dates and hope to soon.

Hopefully someone will be able to help us with this, but we are planning to test our 1/4-scale motor in February. It will be about a P or Q rated motor and we are still trying to figure out where/when we might be able to legally test it (static tests, no launch).

 

[jadebox]

Hopefully someone will be able to help us with this, but we are planning to test our 1/4-scale motor in February. It will be about a P or Q rated motor and we are still trying to figure out where/when we might be able to legally test it (static tests, no launch).

The Triploi Research Safety Code (https://www.tripoli.org/documents/ResearchSafetyCode200602.pdf) permits static testing of hybrid motors up to the "Q" range at Tripoli Research launches. So you could test the motor at a Tripoli Research launch as long as all members of your test group are members of Tripoli. You'll need at least one person who is certified Level 3 to conduct the static test.

-- Roger

 

[ProjectDaedalus]

Thanks Roger, that is definitely great to hear. We'll have to be in further contact with one of the local sites to get advice on setting something like this up.

On another note, SEDS-UCF will be sending a bunch of members to the Feb. 7th ROCK Launch in Oviedo, basically as a way to get most of our newer members who aren't experienced in rocketry to gain a basic knowledge of small scale rockets (and have fun while doing so). Unfortunately with it being the same day as the NEFAR launch, looks like we probably won't make it up to Bunnell until the March launch.

 

[jadebox]

Thanks Roger, that is definitely great to hear. We'll have to be in further contact with one of the local sites to get advice on setting something like this up.

On another note, SEDS-UCF will be sending a bunch of members to the Feb. 7th ROCK Launch in Oviedo, basically as a way to get most of our newer members who aren't experienced in rocketry to gain a basic knowledge of small scale rockets (and have fun while doing so). Unfortunately with it being the same day as the NEFAR launch, looks like we probably won't make it up to Bunnell until the March launch.

Cool ... I'll be at the February ROCK launch. Look forward to seeing "y'all" there.

The field's a little small for the Q motor, though.

-- Roger

 

[ProjectDaedalus]

Also, here is a link to a copy of our sponsorship package future reference. Please visit our sponsorship page for more information.

https://www.projectdaedalus.com/sponsorship.html

https://www.projectdaedalus.com/Sponsorship.pdf

Furthermore, I would like to emphasize that we will be sponsoring a contest to high school students to design a scientific research project to be launched as a payload on our next launch. Students will have to submit a proposal for a self-contained research project that will record data/do some experimentation at an altitude of up to 250,000 feet. More details will be posted as soon as details are finalized.

 

[bobkrech]

If anyone has any advice for our project, we welcome any that you may have to offer.
Thanks.

Have you started your paperwork with the FAA and AST for this flight yet?

With the new FAA regulations going into effect February 4, 2009, if you haven't started the required flight analysis and paperwork yet, you have a lot of work to do and little time to do it.

Bob

 

[ProjectDaedalus]

Have you started your paperwork with the FAA and AST for this flight yet? With the new FAA regulations going into effect February 4, 2009, if you haven't started the required flight analysis and paperwork yet, you have a lot of work to do and little time to do it.

Bob

Yes, we are currently starting to get all that together, along with working with our launch site to complete all preliminary reports that we may need to provide to them. Once our testing is complete, we should have most of what we need.

 

[DAllen]

If anyone has any advice for our project, we welcome any that you may have to offer.

Really big motor + really small/light rocket. Okay, I'll stop...sorry...couldn't resist. I wish I could offer more than moral support. I love to see projects like this and looks like you have your work cut out for you. I wish you the best of luck!

-DAllen

 

[ProjectDaedalus]

Really big motor + really small/light rocket. Okay, I'll stop...sorry...couldn't resist. I wish I could offer more than moral support. I love to see projects like this and looks like you have your work cut out for you. I wish you the best of luck!

-DAllen

That is definitely the plan. Thanks for the good luck!

Additionally, I hope to have some design/motor specifications to post soon.

 

[ProjectDaedalus]

Just a quick update in that our educational outreach / payload competition should be officially announced in the coming weeks. We have slightly delayed the RFP from coming out until we have finalized our dart design and here back some more flight standards from our launch site.

Elsewise, the project is going extremely well with work being completed in each of our four divisions: propulsions, mechanical/structures, electrical/comm., and GSE. We are also finalizing details with out launch site and working out prelimary launch agreements. Hope to have more on this soon.

 

[ProjectDaedalus]

Just another update:

We are still working with NASA to arrange final launch agreements. Our prototype flight computer is currently being produced and our 1/4 scale motor will hopefully to be able to be fired within the next month (currently waiting for more supplies to come in and manufacturing/fabrication to be completed).

Additionally, we are still working aggressively to find sponsors/supporters of our project (and if you know of anyone or any organizations/corporations who might be interested, please let us know).

 

[DAllen]

You better post videos of the motor test darn it.

-DAllen

 

[ProjectDaedalus]

You better post videos of the motor test darn it.

-DAllen

I promise we'll get some amazing videos of the motor test. At this point we are kind of slowing down things as we want to verify that everything will work perfectly on the tests. A P/Q-rated hybrid motor is definitely not something you want to backfire. Currently we are running a lot of small scale tests on injector systems to make sure we have an optimal design for our actual 1/4-scale motor.