Subteams
Illinois Tech Rocketry is an interdisciplinary engineering team comprised of graduate & undergraduate students from different majors, from MMAE to ECE, Computer Science, Architecture to Chemistry, Biology, and Business. It is made up of different subteams, including Structure, Avionics, Aerodynamics, Propulsion and Payload.
Structure
The Structure Subteam is responsible for the design, manufacturing, and testing of our composite structures, including the airframe, fin can, and nose cone of the launch vehicle. The strength of the fin can is essential to a stable flight and a successful launch. To ensure this strength, we lay up and cure our carbon fiber laminates in-house.
Avionics
The Avionics Subteam designs and assembles avionics modules for our vehicle and is currently designing a custom flight computer and RF beacon. The team supports various type of hardware from handheld radio for on-pad communication to cameras (video recording).
Propulsion
The Propulsion Team is responsible for designing, developing, and testing custom solid propulsion systems for our rocket. From motor cases to propellants, we aim to manufacture everything from scratch. Our member also has opportunities to expose to the basic theory of solid rocket motor design, from chemistry. grain geometry to burn profiles.
Aerodynamics
The Aerodynamics Subteam is responsible for building simulation and flight models for flight vehicles. The team works hand in hand with Structure subteams to find and solve different problems using data, models, and software.
Payload
The Payload Subteam is responsible for designing and manufacturing autonomous flight vehicle that deploys from descending rocket and navigates to the ground as well as scientific payload for Spaceport America Cup.