-Week 4-

Aerospace and Chemical Engineering

Beginning Activity - Paper and Balloon Airplane

We started off with very simple plane designs such as paper planes. Then we did a further plane test with a balloon attached to see how the center of gravity, drag, etc.. affected the plane's flight. This helped us understand planes at a simple level before expanding on more complex planes.

Paper Airplane

Drone

The drone is meant to fly to three different color pads, land on each of them, and then change its LED color to match the color of the pad it landed on. It sounds simple in theory, but working with the drone took a lot of trial and error.

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Rocket Rock Sim

This was the simualtion for our model rocket on Rock Sim. This helped us immensely in predicting the flight trajectory of our plane.

Rocket Modeler Sim

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This was the simulation for our model rocket on Rocket Modeler Simulation. We adjusted varous dimensions such as fins, body, and nose to help build our physical rocket.

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Rocket Model

This was the physical model for our rocket, which flew great! The rocket composed of three main parts, the nose, body, and fins. We used three different fins in a trapezoidal shape, as well as the nose being paired with a glue stick to balance out the weight. During our test flight, the rocket flew slightly towards the side and went pretty high up. The only major issue is that the parachute could not deploy in time. This was likely due to our design of the pvc pipe blocking the shockwave of the ignitor, which did not push the nose hard enough.

Airplane Foam Model

The construction of our plane went relatively well. We used a similar model compared to other groups, but instead opted for two fins vertically in the back.

MATLAB Air Quality

For our MATLAB Air Quality assignment we went around campus testing the air quality at different alttitudes and locations. We recorded this with the devices then extracted the information and put it into a sheet to organize it and examine it.

Reflection

This week consisted of various projects. Our group had to program a drone, make an airplane out of a foam kit, create a rocket, use rocket simulations, and test air quality. Coming to an end of Discover Engineering 2026, our group managed to complete all of our projects but faced some challenges along the way.

The drone that our group was given was faulty and we had to get a new one. The code for the drone needed constant readjustment but in the end it successfully performed the task it needed to.

The rocket we created faced an issue in the body becoming too deformed, which we eventually solved by creating a new one. This success can be reflected in our first launch, in which the rocket flew very well. However, an issue that did prevail was the parachute unsuccessfully deploying.

Overall, the projects we accomplished this week all turned out amazing, we are each so proud of the designs and models built.

Note: check team 5 google drive for discussion board reply video

Air Quality Sheet

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