HODGE

Overview

Entry in the 10k COTS category for the International Rocketry Engineering Competition (IREC) to take place in June 2025. HODGE is a dual-deploy rocket  6.17 inches in diameter and ten feet in length. The main goal for this rocket is to reach ten thousand feet at apogee. This year’s improvements focus on weight reduction, enhanced accessibility, and maintaining industry standard safety factors.

Summary

During the 2024–2025 academic year, I served as Theoretical Team Lead within the Mechanical Subteam of the Tufts Rocketry Team, with expanded responsibilities during the spring as an acting co-lead for the entire mechanical division. My role spanned both design and fabrication phases of our 2025 IREC rocket, HODGE. 

In the fall, my work focused heavily on simulation, analysis, and design optimization. I spearheaded the redesign of the avionics bay, working with both the electronics and avionics team to ensure user needs were being addressed. I performed FEA on critical structural components under simulated flight loads to ensure compliance with safety margins. Additionally, I developed calculators to streamline shear and tension analysis, aiding team members in validating material choices and structural changes. I contributed to simulation work by modeling HODGE’s flight performance using tools like OpenRocket and MATLAB, which informed motor selection and predicted shock loads under various launch conditions. I also supported composite material characterization, by helping conduct tensile testing on an Instron machine to determine the factor of safety associated with different thicknesses and layup configurations of composite materials. 

The spring semester was a critical time marked by the beginning of the rocket’s manufacturing phase. The co-leads and I organized and scheduled build sessions, delegated tasks across a team of approximately fifteen members, and oversaw integration testing. I was personally responsible for programming and operating the CNC machine for manufacturing the bulkheads and thrust plate. Beyond machining, I also participated in post-processing tasks, including metalworking and the fabrication of various sections of the airframe. On the systems side, I developed and implemented a part numbering system to standardize and organize rocket components within the CAD environment. These hands-on contributions allowed me to apply both technical and leadership skills in a fast-paced, collaborative engineering environment.

Technical Report

Note: I contributed exclusively to sections of this technical report related to aerospace structures and the mechanical team's work. My responsibilities were limited to those areas and do not extend to content outside that scope.