Purdue Space Program FAR MARS 2022
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- čas přidán 20. 07. 2024
- March 19, 2022
Purdue Space Program comes out to FAR for their attempt at the FAR MARS prize for a LOX-Methane Rocket. The skies were cloudy at first, but they cleared up just in time for a noon launch.
The Purdue program is able to take advantage of an extensive purpose built rocket laboratory and testing facility on campus, Zucrow Labs, which includes existing test cells and experienced university personnel. This is something that few universities, if any, have to offer. After four years of steady development, the team is able to make their first official launch attempt for the FAR-MARS prize, and they certainly came well prepared.
Following a double static test program in the Fall of 2021, the team brought out a beautiful launch vehicle, featuring a well organized ground support system and robust quick disconnects and powerful rotary actuators. Their motor was outsourced, but made of silica phenolic and carbon fiber windings in the fashion of Eric Besnard, formerly of CALVEIN and Vector Space. In terms of hardware, Purdue prepared everything to a professional standard, with little sign of rush or negligence in design.
The team this year is still a little green however. Launch operations were a bit hectic and panicky, and at times they may have reverted to old habits despite launching out of a new and unaffiliated facility. Nonetheless they were able to get a launch up in a very reasonable time and the vehicle recovered safely after reaching 10,000 feet, despite the main deploying early. Better early than too late. This is well below the qualifying altitude for the FAR MARS prize, so it shall remain up for grabs next year.
Still eager to fly, the team prepared to recycle for a second flight the following day. About 28 hours later, they flew to only 6700 feet due to less available LOX.
The team attributed the off-nominal performance to a partial valve opening and incomplete propellant loading. The valves could very well have failed to fully open since the rocket may have left the actuator behind before it finished turning, one of the drawbacks of external actuators in a fast starting motor like MethaLOX. If you review the footage frame by frame, you can see the actuator being pulled by the rocket as it lifts off. The team had also switched from nitrogen to helium, ostensibly to increase actuation speed. I am not so sure about this reasoning, considering helium's tendency to be more squishy when expanding. When I made a similar change years before for convenience, I found it to be less responsive than nitrogen. I did not experiment with this enough to place much confidence in this theory, but remember too, that the speed of the rocket ascending under thrust after the main valves open is one thing that cannot be easily evaluated in testing.
I also agree with the supposition the propellant tanks were not fully loaded, since I was not able to confirm whether they had LOX ejecting out of their particularly long vent lines. The methane too may have been far different than what the team was used to. They condensed their own during static firing, while the methane used at launch was stored in a dewar. Methane density is especially sensitive to all sorts of conditions, which makes it particularly challenging to work with.
I hope to see the Purdue team launch out at FAR again, and the high quality of their vehicle and the reliability of their recovery leaves me to believe that the prize may very well be claimed next year.
All us FAR folks are volunteers. You can donate and become a member of the Friends of Amateur Rocketry at friendsofamateurrocketry.org/. You are also welcome to donate at dhrocketry.com/ to help support my camerawork and the free assistance I provide to University teams as a consultant and pyrotechnic operator. Recording and editing these videos takes lots of time and money, so your support would be appreciated.
0:00 Setup
1:33 Launch Procedures
2:55 Terminal Count
3:26 Descent - Věda a technologie
Very cool, but the video doesn’t show most of the rocket boosting nor recovery, which rocket launch vids normally show. Did it go horizontal? The fins looked too small to me, but propulsion worked fantastically!
NICE WORK!!!! says this armchair rocket scientist, builing my own hybrids in my shop. Liquid fueled is tough, you made it happen!
A hybrid is already halfway there to a bipropellant. Looking forward to seeing that fly.
Hello 🤩🤩, everyone just keep make good Experiment...well done everyone... happy Easter Day..
Hybrid?
Lox and LNG Bi prop
Sounds like the team needs to do some dress rehearsals for launch procedures.
What's the point of wasting, so much money, on something done infinitely better 60 years ago.
The point is that dozens of university students can now do this, applying their own creativity and efforts into a vehicle of their own design, for less than the cost of a football stadium light.
The point is to show guys like you that 1) theyre a helluva lot smarter and 2) science
What's the point in keeping yourself alive Scott when billions of people did it before you and lived better lives?