Spaceport America Cup 2017

From June 20^th-24^th, the OSU AIAA High-Power Rocketry Team competed in the 2017 Spaceport America Cup. When I founded the program in August 2016, this competition was the goal for year one. I didn’t know if this was realistic or not, so it was a particularly gratifying feeling to be at the Spaceport America with more than a hundred other university teams who are the best and brightest in the world.

Leading up to the competition, most of our paperwork submissions were already complete, so we had to finish construction of Tory II and pack all our gear, tools, and equipment for transportation. Reid, Brendan, Tim, Nic, and I loaded the vehicles Sunday June 19^th so we could depart early the next morning. We left Stillwater at 6:30 Monday morning bound for Truth or Consequences, NM! It took us eleven hours to arrive, but fortunately we had nothing left to do that evening aside from a little work on our altimeter bay. We ran into other teams at our hotel including the University of Calgary who utilized their trailer and were working in the parking lot. It was a lot of fun chatting with them because how laid back they were about all of this. I wasn’t sure how serious or strict the competition judges and officials would be, so knowing other teams were doing last-minute work was reassuring.

We woke up at 4:00 Tuesday morning June 20^th for the Poster Session in Las Cruces. It was an hour fifteen-minute drive, and we were able to get a good spot to set up our poster, rocket, airbrake, and drone payload. After a briefing session for all competition participations, I made a rotation schedule of manning our table to talk to judges and participants, talking to other teams, and relaxation to eat and sit down. We had eight hours to cover, but it was such a stimulating environment. Our drone and airbrake drew some decent attention from other teams, and it was fun to talk about our hardware. I just wish we were using both technologies. Next year.

We spoke with dozens of other teams from all over the country and some international teams and learned of so many ways to tackle propulsion, composites, and payloads. Every single person I spoke with was so excited and engaged. This particular day, as exhausting as it was on my feet all day and speaking nonstop was my favorite of the whole week.

On Wednesday June 21^st, we woke up at 5:00 to spend the day at the Spaceport America. It was an amazing facility, perhaps built a few years too early, but it was striking to think that this location in the desert has unlimited airspace and will soon be a gateway to orbiting the Earth.

Every team gathered on the Apron outside the hanger for a group photo, and then we all felt the New Mexico sun for the first time. We then had to caravan to the VLA (Vertical Launch Area) to begin setting up at basecamp to work on our rockets, preparing for launch over the following three days. This took a while and at one point traffic slowed to a halt and people got out of their cars to throw frisbees and clown around. One Michigan student apparently got bored and climbed onto the windshield of their rental car to sit. His rear end went through the glass, making a crater in the windshield. That wasn’t it. He went on to try and push the glass fragments back into place from the inside, filling his hand with glass shards. This team went on to win the whole Cup.

We set up at basecamp and over the course of the day each team got evaluated by a judging team for the quality of their hardware. They were thorough in their questions and rather than criticizing our rocket and payload when they had concerns, they offered help and suggestions as to how to fix it before we fly. This was greatly appreciated as the judging process was what I was most nervous for. We had some final work to do before they could completely write us off, so we called it a day and returned to Truth of Consequences to work in the air conditioning and rest up.

On Thursday June 22^nd, we were up at 5:00 again to try and be one of the first teams to launch that morning. We got our flight card and payload registered, so at this point we could fly whenever we were ready. By mid-morning all was looking good, so I sat down to assemble the motor (one of my favorite parts of a launch). The reload kits always say to not open the package until ready for use (assembly), so when I saw some new special instructions saying we’d need glue and twelve hours for it to cure, I was not happy. We couldn’t really do anything at this point, so we packed up and intended to be on the first salvo the next morning.

It was early afternoon when we arrived back at the hotel, and aside from me gluing in the motor grains to the liner, we had the rest of the day to relax which was much needed for everyone else.

Friday June 23^rd was the day we launched. We were up at 4:00 to try and get on the first salvo.

An Aerotech M1500G, our first L3 motor

We wouldn't take a real photo with Zhong in that position

Reid, my friend and future roommate

Somehow, moments before liftoff I knew it wouldn’t be successful. That thought crossed my mind, but so did a thought that said no matter how this flight would go, it doesn’t make or break a year’s worth of progress and effort. Sure, a nominal flight would be fantastic, but rockets are hard, and we were bound to have a failure at one point or another. I just wish it hadn’t happened on the biggest stage in the world like this, but I wasn’t upset or angry. If there was anyone who should have been disappointed, it should have been me, but I wasn’t. Some five of the next six rockets ono our salvo CATO’d or had off-nominal flights, so we were in similar company.

We went to retrieve what remained, and it was an easy find just off the recovery road. We analyzed the damage, and it was impressive. Fin fillets were completely broken, aft airframe almost completely severed in two, dozens of green 3D-printed plastic bits scattered left and right, altimeter bay slipband shoved inches into the forward airframe, and the drone: a twisted, mangled mess of plastic and bent steel rods. Ultimately, we think that since our rocket was on the pad in the sun for more than two hours, the PLA plastic payload parts softened and during boost allowed the metal parts to shift somehow rendering the rocket suddenly unstable. It was hard to decipher what damage was caused during flight and what happened upon ground impact.

By now it was late afternoon and we had no reason to stay longer, so we headed home for the day.

Saturday was the final day of the competition. We all slept in until 8:00 and returned to the Spaceport for the morning’s flights and the ULA Student Intern Launch. The rest of the day we switched hotels for the final night, cleaned our gear, lost power in a dust storm, and attended the closing awards banquet. Because of rain we got to go inside the hanger and see a replica of SpaceShipTwo which was neat, but after three hours, everyone was ready to be going.

Zhong began the trip home that evening, Reid and I left at 5:00 Sunday morning with the rest of the guys shortly behind us. We made good time, and safely returned to our homes that evening.

It was such an incredible week. Sure, the flight wasn’t what we hoped for, but we’re already abuzz with talk of next year, and again, I’m thrilled we even made it here. This is just the beginning for the OSU AIAA High-Power Rocketry Team.

Thank you for reading my posts, from the first one in October to this one here, it has been quite the adventure, and I will continue to share the team’s endeavors in rocketry next year. Go Pokes!