Little Red

"Little Red" is the first rocket built by ITR. Built in 2021, "Little Red" reached an apogee of 5,000ft, landmarked the first successful launch, and gave us important insight into our future launches.

"Little Red" is a little over 8 feet tall with a 6-inch diameter and fins spanning 18 inches. The takeoff weight for "Little Red" was 31.6 pounds. The rocket comprises two primary body tubes connected by an avionics bay housing electrical equipment and the rocket's brain.' Fiberglass comprises both the body and fins of the rocket with thicknesses of 0.08 inches and 0.125 inches, respectively. The nose cone was created for a ratio of 5:1.

With the required altitude of 10,000ft, an L-class motor is required to help the rocket achieve this. The AeroTech L952W-P was selected for its high thrust. This motor gave an impulse of 5,098 Ns for the motor and a thrust-weight ratio of 7:2:1. Using this, "Little Red" was predicted to reach a launch rail departure velocity of 61.1 feet/sec and a maximum velocity of 803 feet/sec. The rocket used a 12-foot launch rod and reached an apogee of 5,000 feet.

"Little Red" contained a dual deployment system, with the first event occurring 8 seconds after motor burnout (using grain delay). A second event occurs at 500 feet AGL (above ground level).

This rocket was the club's first taste of high-powered launches and opened up the doors to many more. "Little Red" allowed for many learning opportunities ranging from the physical build to the technical details of launches.

Structure

The rocket airframe is built from 6 inch diameter G10 Fiberglass tube with 0.08” thick. 3 fins are made of the same material – 1/8” thickness – as well as Ogive 5:1 nosecone. The airframe consists of 2 body tubes separated by an avionics bay. The motor is installed in a 98 mm motor mount held inside the airframe by 3 G10 centering rings. It is also retained by Aero Pack 98 mm retainer attached to a thrust plate. 

Avionics

The avionics system of Little Red features AltusMetrum TeleMega V5 and Missile Works RRC3 as primary and backup flight computers. For redundancy, the ground station system consists of a primary and auxiliary system, Altus Metrum TeleBT and TeleDongle.  

Propulsion

ITR's Founding Leadership

Andy de Fonseca, Michael Gromski, Maciej Grybko, Kristin Petersen, Mohammed, Christian Valois

Gallery