The last full month
of my first semester of grad school is already here. It has definitely taken
some getting used to, but I’m hitting my stride and enjoying it more with each
passing week.
For research, the
largest development since my last post on the subject was the change in funding
direction. I was previously pursuing a NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR Travel Grant which
would have funded a visit to Marshall (or another NASA center) to communicate
with engineers and researchers on collaborative research projects. This fell
through because of a missed deadline and is unfortunate because the funding for
my second year was dependent on a follow-up proposal to that Travel Grant, a
Research Initiation Grant (RIG). EPSCoR operates on a 12-month schedule, so
while I could apply for another travel opportunity next year, the follow-up RIG
that would have funded me wouldn’t be an option until 2020 by which I will have
graduated.
That missed deadline
was only last week, and since then I was working around the clock on a NASA
Space Technology Research Fellowship proposal due November 1st (yesterday).
My proposal title was “Development of Mass-Optimized Pressure Vessels for
Rocket Propulsion Systems using Additive Manufacturing.” I hope to explore how
propellant tanks and combustion chambers may be 3D printed using new additive
manufacturing techniques that use fiberglass strands or the atomic diffusion
additive manufacturing (ADAM) technique.
The proposal included
a personal statement, project narrative, academic coursework plan, CV,
transcripts, and letters of recommendation. It was a tough week of crunch time,
but I got it all submitted in time and felt good about the documents. Regardless
of whether I receive the fellowship (will be announced in April), this is the
start of my thesis work, so it was one heck of a way to jump start that
process. After working non-stop on it for seven days, I took the evening off to
cook orange chicken and watch Gravity
with Sam.
Outside of research,
it has been an enjoyable fall semester. The weather has felt more like autumn
more than any I can previously remember in Oklahoma. I have been working on a
two-stage rocket project of mine, Mach
Wave 2-Stage. I bought the Nike-Tomahawk kit back in May, and as it sat in
my house in Stillwater all summer, I drew up assembly instructions and a flight
plan while in Alabama. I flew the sustainer (upper stage) by itself at Airfest
in September, and have since built the booster and transition, prepared the
electronics, and tested all separation and recovery events on the ground in my
backyard.
This has been by far
the most complex project I’ve ever worked on. Launching one rocket from the
ground is sometimes a challenge by itself, but to now launch one rocket on top
of a second while it is in the air moving, each stage with its own set of
altimeters, timers, trackers, parachutes, ejection charges, stability
requirements, and motor ignition systems, it became a labor of love.
This past Sunday I
launched the unpainted rocket on a J270W in a boosted dart configuration,
meaning there was no motor in the second stage. The purpose was to test out the
separation of the two stages in the air, make sure I could ignite a second
motor in the air (I did this by connecting an ematch and having it fire in the
air rather than lighting a new motor), and confirm recovery events were
functional on both stages. In the booster I had my RRC3 altimeter, an MT4 timer
for the separation event, and a BeepX siren tracker. The sustainer was
spatially constrained, so I used the rocketry team’s TeleMega for primary
recovery, staging events, and tracking and an EasyMini altimeter for secondary
recovery. All in all, 5 electronic devices were more than I was used to, but
they all worked beautifully. Back in April, the team’s Jolly Logic Chute Release
lawn-darted from 8000ft but still appeared functional. It hasn’t been tested in
flight yet, so I also had a Jolly Logic wrapped around a second parachute in
the booster, but I forgot to turn on the Jolly Logic prior to launch, so that
part was inconclusive.
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| Sam made fun of me for wearing safety glasses... |
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| ...and for using checklists |
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| How I feel about twist-and-tie switches |
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| Prior to launch |
At launch,
everything happened as it was supposed to in the air. Unfortunately, a fin
cracked on landing which was a surprise since the ground was soft and muddy,
and I’ve never had a fin joint fracture before. It turns out all the epoxy on
the motor mount tube ran down one side, so very little adhered to the fin
itself. I managed to pull the fin free, so a little sanding and new epoxy fillets
will fix it right up. Sam will also help me fiberglass the joint to keep it
from happening again.
It was a great first
flight of the whole system. I have another 4 flights planned of this rocket.
The next will be in February staging an I284W to an H73J, hoping to reach
3000ft and making sure all systems work on a subscale level. Third flight will
be a J415W to a J350W to 12000ft. The fourth will be at LDRS in September on a
K375NW to a J570W to 18000ft. Finally, the 5th flight will be a K1103X
to an I59N. The last one will be fun because the I59N in the sustainer is an
end-burning Warp-9 motor that burns for 8 seconds, carrying the rocket from
3000ft to 8000ft and then coasting to 12000ft. This project has been so
exciting to plan out, and since all the systems have so far worked, it will be
just a matter of flying it higher each time to practice staging to greater
altitudes.
On another note, Sam
and I attended a couple concerts in October. We saw Barns Courtney and The
Wombats perform in Tulsa. I’ve been going to concerts like these all through
college where tickets are for general admission and take place in a single
ballroom-style venue without seats or assigned areas. They’re affordable and
feel far more personal than the amphitheater/stadium style performances. A few
weeks later we saw Arkells and St. Lucia in OKC. The Arkells were particularly
awesome. They’re a Canadian group from Ontario, and lead singer, Max Kerman,
sang and danced in the crowd (we brushed elbows), changed the lyrics of “Leather
Jacket” to say, “Oklahoma accent” instead of “southern accent,” and after
asking, “Who can play some basic chords on guitar?” brought on some random kid
from the crowd onto stage who rocked out with them for a song. St. Lucia also
did great, and I caught one of Jean Grobler’s guitar picks. Concerts definitely
make for the most memorable evenings I’ve had in college.
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| Arkells |
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| St. Lucia |
That’s the majority of
the last two months. I’ll be flying to Germany and Austria for Christmas to
visit my German family and host families in Austria. I haven’t been back since
2016 and early 2015, respectively, so I’m very excited to reunite with them. It’s
never an easy decision to miss the holidays with my parents and sister, but I expect
to spend a week with them after New Year’s.
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