AstroNOTS (Team Beta)

FINAL NOTES:

May 1, 2016   

    The past eight months were filled with challenges. With your support, our team of five overcame those challenges. To secure a place in the final competition, our engineering designs passed critiques, our five papers scored adequate points, our rocket prototype launched, and our five presentations to NASA personnel to showcase our rocket and ground support designs and prototypes were approved for creativity and safety. Successful completion of these steps earned us an opportunity to compete in April in Huntsville, AL.

    During the first few days in Alabama at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, we focused on demonstrating our engineering design for an autonomous ground support system that would be able to fetch a rocket on Mars, install its payload and then launch it back to Earth. During our initial official run, one of three safety power switches was turned on. As programmed, it prevented the system from running. When we explained that this was a redundant safety switch, the judges allowed us to restart our run. During this second run, almost everything worked as planned. The payload door on the rocket was not closed completely by the robotic arm, but did close on its own while the system raised the launch rail. This portion of the competition had 17 teams, and we are happy to announce that while we did not win, we were one of the few teams that had a successful run with no problems due to mechanical design or electronics.

    The second half of competition week focused on the rocket. During the day, we had the opportunity to tour NASA’s next rocket system, the Space Launch System (SLS). At night we concentrated on final safety checkouts and preparation of our rocket for our actual launch. Our discipline paid off because on launch day, we were so well prepared resulting in us being the first team on the launch pad.

    After two hours of delays, our rocket launched and our flight went very well. Our rocket, dubbed "Stupid Strong", had a beautiful launch and climbed to 5012 feet. The drogue parachute deployed as programmed moments after the peak height, descended until our main parachute opened at 700 feet, and finally landed safely in the surrounding farm land that resulted in no damage to the rocket. This nearly perfect launch allowed us to rank about 5th of 49 teams in our altitude, as the goal was to hit one mile or 5280 feet. We found that the strong winds that morning caused our rocket to launch at an angle that prevented the rocket from going the extra 270 feet. More results on this project will be coming out in a few weeks, and we will be announcing those in the Updates section on this website.

    Overall, this year was an amazing experience for our team. We worked many long and tireless hours to complete the project and are happy to be rewarded with great results from the competition. Between now and our graduation on Friday, May 13, we will be presenting our work to our fellow students, university-wide professors, and local engineers in formal presentations, symposiums, and papers.

Thank you for following us along this journey.

- The AstroNOTS

OUR SPONSORS:

PROJECT:

The Saint Louis University (SLU) AstroNOTS competed in the Centennial MAV Challenge under the guidance and sponsorship of the Park’s College Senior Design class. The members of the design group designed and built the project with some additional support in the educational outreach. SLU has had past senior design groups participate in USLI competitions and through their work and growing student interest in rocket development, we worked to build a connection between the rocket design process and classroom activities and extracurricular clubs. The documentation of the project is available to not only the school, but also future senior design groups and student organizations. Our group consists of five members, one experienced member of the SLU Rocketry Club, and four enthusiastic learners that want to get involved.

 Launch Vehicle Summary

The launch vehicle used at the competition is named ‘Stupid Strong’ for its durability throughout the testing process going into the USLI competition launch. The 77-inch-long, 4-inch-wide airframe is propelled by a CTI K630 motor. This motor choice was designed to get ‘Stupid Strong’ to a higher altitude then the target altitude of 1 mile. This choice allowed for the team to adjust the mass of the foreword bulkhead to a weight that created an apogee to 1 mile due to simulations of the weather conditions at launch.

AGSE Summary

The purpose of the AGSE was to design a system capable of returning a sample from Mars and launching it safely into a low orbit to be picked up and returned to Earth with little to no human interaction. The technologies used in the system had to be capable of launch on Earth but utilize no technologies such as gravity assist, magnetic sensors or anything that works only on Earth. Our system consisted of 8020 Inc. extruded aluminum frame and legs, a servo controlled robotic arm, electric powered industrial winch, and a chain and sprocket system controlled by a stepper motor.

MEET OUR TEAM:

MARY DISTLER - TEAM LEADER

Mary will graduate in May 2016 with her Bachelors degree in Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mathematics. While there, she has fueled her love of space studies by helping to to work in the Space Systems Research Lab. She hopes to use past internships and leadership roles to help lead this team to victory... if they can handle her busy schedule. Her passions include good movies, space jokes, and finding the best gluten free meals at restaurants.

CHASE LYONS - INTEGRATION SPECIALIST

Chase is the home town member of the team from Saint Louis. He will be graduating from Parks in May of 2016 with a Bachelor's Degree in Aerospace Engineering. His passions include designing, building and racing multirotors. Flight controller programming is his specialty and his Arduino experience will be put to use in the project. 

RICH REITER III - ROCKET LEAD

Rich Reiter III is a fifth year Aerospace Engineering student at Parks College.  For this project he is working as the Rocket Team lead in charge of the design and construction of the rocket.  He gained experience over the past five years in project management and leadership as a member of Air Force ROTC that he is looking to apply to this competition.

ANGEL LUIS SERRANO SAMAYOA - SAFETY OFFICER

Hailing from Spain, Angel is an aerospace engineering student who will graduate from St. Louis University in May 2016. He's currently involved in Parks College's Space Systems Research Lab as the propulsion team lead in the development of the Rascal cube-sat. Angel's goal is to work in the space industry. His other interests include mountain biking, computer building and space exploration. 

KATHY SZMERGALSKI - PAYLOAD SPECIALIST

Kathy is the payload specialist for the AstroNots' centennial challenge project. She is an aerospace engineering major with a minor in mathematics planning to graduate in May 2016. She is also involved in Air Force ROTC and has 4 years of leadership experience through planning and executing cadet training activities. On top of that Kathy is the commander of the Class A varsity rifle drill team based out of Parks College.