A Cal Poly Pomona team captured first place in the Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) 1030 Rocketry Competition held recently in the Mojave Desert when its rocket soared to 24,000 feet, setting a school record.
The team with the second-highest launch was the University of Central Florida at 21,350 feet.
The 14-foot-tall Bronco rocket, with student-designed and manufactured motors, weighed close to 130 pounds at liftoff and carried a small rover. It was constructed mostly out of convolute-wound carbon fiber, with the motor casing and fin assembly almost exclusively made out of aluminum.
The team consisted of approximately 25 students from the university’s Undergraduate Missiles, Ballistics, and Rocketry Association (UMBRA), divided into subteams such as aerodynamics, systems engineering, structures, avionics, payload and propulsion.
Design of the rocket started in September, and the team fabricated the first components in early December.
“We designed, mixed and processed our own motors at an offsite facility,” said James McPherson of Walnut in a press release from Cal Poly Pomona. McPherson, who is majoring in aerospace engineering, served as the propulsion lead engineer.
The self-built motor gave the team 1,000 extra points in the event.
“The components, such as the nozzle and casing, were all student-designed and manufactured,” McPherson said in the press release. “It produced a peak thrust of 1,300 pounds of force over the course of a 5.5- second burn. We produced one for a static test fire, which was conducted successfully at the FAR site in the Mojave Desert, and then one for flight.”
The students also formulated their own fuel, an ammonium perchlorate composite propellant (APCP), which is similar to the fuel in the boosters used on the space shuttle and the upcoming Space Launch System (SLS), according to McPherson.
Not everything in the project went smoothly.
“Manufacturing errors were the most challenging thing, especially when the thing you expect to be round … isn’t,” said Joshua Fofrich of of Fontana, the team manager, in the press release.
Cameron Harrington of Riverside, the propulsion deputy engineer, saw the challenges as an opportunity to learn under pressure.
“Being able to overcome technical complications at the drop of a dime, and developing that skill, was a perfect example of the learn-by-doing mentality that I got to see applied to real-world challenges,” Harrington said in the press release.
UMBRA has more than 100 members, who meet throughout the year to discuss rocketry, have fun and enjoy being part of a diverse community of students from all majors. They offer workshops and organize field trips. UMBRA’s pro teams, with oversight from aerospace faculty, enter competitions such as the NASA University Student Launch Initiative, FAR1030-5R and Spaceport America Cup.
